Final Destination 3: Train 081 Novelization
by CJfromSanAndreas
Summary: What if Christa Faust had been commissioned to write the novelization for the Train 081 sequence? This is how I think it would look like.
1. Introduction

**Introduction**

This is a novelization of the Train 081 sequence from Final Destination 3. As opposed to the movie, I will include a few changes that you will notice.

Being based on Christa Faust's work, I really enjoyed how she expanded upon the movie's detail , making a teenage drama as opposed to a cheap B movie.

With that said, I decided to consider if I could do a story similar to her with the epilogue. Hope you enjoy!


	2. Chapter 24: Wendy's POV

**TWENTY-FOUR**

The weather was harsh, cold, and on top of all, unusual for this time of the year. Pittsburgh wasn't exactly this cold during late fall, but there was always that chance of a Nor'easter, the cold snap that happened during this time of the year, to hit the city like it had these last few days, as well as the incoming days. The city of Pittsburgh was located almost a hundred miles south from McKinley, but it was a nice enough trip if you managed to carpool with your friends or family for a long trip. If you you were lucky and didn't catch rush hour, you could even make the trip well under two hours, and go sightseeing and enjoy a busy city life. This wasn't exactçy the best time for it, however, as the Thanksgiving holidays were coming up, and it would happen on a middle of a Thursday, November twenty fourth. Interestingly enough, there was someone's birthday coming up as well: Wendy Christensen would turn 18 in November thirty.

Wendy had recalled having come to Pittsburgh on family trips before. The best experience having been when she was 12, five years ago. It had been a bright and warm summer week in July, and she had enjoyed going to the zoo, the conservatory, and even visit the Andy Warhol museum, on top of seeing the July fourth celebrations in there, with all the splendor of the fireworks and the agitated folks. Those had been one of the best moments in her life as she could have recalled, being somewhere away from home and enjoying the best of what life had to offer. Then again, after what she had gone through five months earlier, she was willing to enjoy life the best she could.

She could still remember the horrible experience it had been. The rollercoaster crash, her classmates dying, her frozen emotions and cold demeanor, and just wanting to be gone from McKinley and straight towards New Haven to begin her prestigious career in law at Yale. And yet she managed to survive through all this.

After the whole incident from the Tri-Centennial, she had thought she would almost become paranoid of who would be next in Death's list. It could have been anyone of them, her sister Julie or her boyfriend Kevin. Amazingly enough, however, it almost seemed as if Death had "given up", its presence gone completely from her after a few days. She had searched on the pictures for hours to find clues and try to decipher some sort of code, as if there was something hidden, only to come up empty handed. She had been skeptical—would Death really had given up on them? They were surely still on the list, but what made her think that she was in danger? The answer to all this could only mean that they finally had beaten death, and she hadn't felt that cold presence ever since the day of the Tri-Centennial. Kevin and Julie assured her that all of this was over.

Speaking of which, she now had the full support from both her sister and new boyfriend. The accidents that Wendy, Kevin and Julie had drawn them together, straightening their relationship and getting them to know each other better. Julie had almost become someone different from what Wendy could have seen from the rest of her summer holidays. Unlike she had been after almost dying in Red River, crying at the slightest of provocation, she had become confident and ready to fight. It was evident that Death had given her a very bad scare. It was almost as if her fear had done a 180 degree heel turn, and instead turned into courage. She was willing to fight until the end and stay defiant to Death, claiming if it ever had done something to her sister, she'd kill them herself.

On top of all, it was hard to believe how much Kevin had changed from that accident. She never really cared much for him during their four years of high school, instead choosing to ignore him whenever he was doing one of his stupid jokes, and instead just wanting him to leave her alone and fuck off. She had even almost forgotten when last year, one day before the winter holidays at school, Kevin, Jason, Perry's brother—Craig, and another one of the boys that had died in the coaster crash, Marcus, had been caught wanting to start a snowball fight in the middle of their classroom, during the class of Mrs. Morgan, their math teacher. Wendy could recall how furious she had been towards Jason being caught alongside his best friend in this immature plot, so much she had refused to talk to him for the whole 14 days of the winter break, only doing so again once he had apologised for that before her, and asked for a second chance. It had been a while before Wendy did forget what happened, but ultimately Jason had proven to her he could well behave.

Now he was dead, and Kevin had been in her side ever since. It was difficult to admit, but he had indeed honored his promise to Jay that he would protect her at all costs. His dedication to make her feel safe and to shield her from any potential harm had brought them closer to one another, and she felt much more comfortable knowing the real Kevin instead of the immature one before the accident. Plus she got to know him much better than earlier, with the summer holidays. And what a great summer it was, even if she had skipped her Latin and Greek classes she wanted to take. She had need to explain to the administration about the why, and thought she could lose her acceptance in Yale. Thankfully, nothing major had occurred. She could, however, had been extra careful with those who had went through a nightmare that seemingly had stopped. It's just that she wanted to give a chance to be with Kevin more often.

One silly thing that made her think about was the uncertainty in Kevin's family for the first time. She used to hear a lot about the boyfriend getting anxious to meet the girlfriend's family, but to her case it was the opposite. His mother, Helen, was nice enough if a bit firm and perhaps a bit uncertain of her at first. But she saw that the Fisher family revolved around Kevin's dad, Kent. He asked her a lot of questions regarding her interests, life goals, other things she liked to do, and so on. In the end he had approved of her, but she could see how Mrs. Fisher was a bit uncertain still. Maybe it was the uncertainty of Wendy being another Carrie, even though Wendy was a polar opposite of her, on top of the least likely to be like her. If anything, that was Julie's case.

Another thing she remembered was meeting up with one of Kevin's siblings during her visit, Hart Fisher. She had seen him before, hanging around with Julie a lot that summer, with her visiting the Fisher house and Hart visiting their house as well. They were classmates, Wendy realized, and she suspected that they had been meeting up a lot ever since the whole business in the Tri-Centennial. He looked somewhat different from Kevin, more to the nerdy side of things, and looked slightly less immature than Kevin, with a good heart nonetheless. It seemed like Julie was truly unhappy with most of her choices, and Hart wasn't so different.

The last thing she remembered was cuddling with Kevin on one of the parks in McKinley town, both of them on a date, which had been proposed by Kevin as much as it was by her.

"**What are you thinking about, Kevin?"** she had asked him, when they were both enjoying a late summer day together in a wooded area very close to McKinley High. She was her lying with her head over his broad shoulders.

"**Well,"** he had begun looking handsome and pensive, **"I had been thinking about how much I'm gonna miss you. Are you gonna be okay, all by yourself and with no one who you are familiar with?"**

"**From the way you say it Kevin, it seems to me you are the one who is gonna miss me the most."** she had said, in a teasing voice.

"**I just don't want you to feel alone. After what happened to all of us, including your, well, anxiety… I don't want you to be all by yourself in Yale,"** he had said, caressing her back and looking at her.

Wendy had felt the pain in his words. He had been worried for her, and she too knew why. All that crazy shit that happened to them had been no joke, they had seen their classmates die in front of them, including that asshole Ian McKinley, that only believed her for the wrong reasons. He really had fury in his eyes, it was almost as if he had gathered all his strength and focus just to avenge Erin Ulmer's death, whatever the cost. Nevermind that Wendy and Kevin had bothered to explain every inch of detail about Death's design, and yet they both made fun of them. But it was like they said—it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye. And now both Ian and Erin were dead, alongside everyone else that had gotten off the Devil's Flight roller coaster, with the exception of Wendy, Kevin and Julie. They did it, they had won and lived to tell the tale.

**"I'll be fine, Kevin,"** Wendy had said. **"truly, I appreciate the worry, but we have beaten Death. I know, I was worried a few weeks ago, perhaps the entire summer, but I feel that the presence… or whatever it was… it is gone now. I feel no more trace of it, I don't feel scared… I just… don't feel it anymore. Believe me, I'm just as confused as you are on why is it gone all of a sudden, but I feel like I'm fine. Really."** she had went on, then holding his hand tight, to show him she was confident of what she had said.

"**Well, if you say so,"** Kevin had said. **"Just remember I'll be always here for you. Anything that happens or doesn't happen-"**

"**-I'll call you right away. I appreciate it, and I'll be sure to do that."** Wendy said softly, happy to be with someone who not only understood how she felt, but also was there for him.

"**And remember I love you, Wendy. You are everything to me, and I can't imagine myself without you… not after what happened…"** Kevin had said, somewhat emotional, but meaning on what he wanted to say.

"**And I feel the same way about you, Kevin. I promise whenever I have the holidays, I'll come here and visit you. How's that for you? I'm sure we'll have enough time to do plenty of things together."** she had said to him then, herself feeling sad too in the prospect of being separated from him.

"**That's a deal,"** Kevin had said, smirking at her, having pulled her to a passionate kiss. **"And if something happens, call me and I'll personally pick you up in New Haven."** he had went on, having added some humor to the conversation.

"**I'll be sure to do that. I'm starting to think you'd be a knight in shining armor, Kevin,"** Wendy had said, giggling afterwards. **"A gallant chivalrous figure."**

"**I've got a lot of tricks up my sleeve!"** Kevin had said as equally humorous before, having kissed her again.

"**You truly do, Kevin."** Wendy has said, chuckling, having raised her head to give him a kiss.

"**Well, at least when you come back, we'll have plenty of memories."** Kevin said, slowly caressing Wendy's face, who gave him a sheepish smile.

"**We will indeed,"** Wendy had said, with a playful banter to her voice. She had no idea how, but Kevin made her feel safe. She really thought she would go crazy with the order of deaths after the whole business, but he had made her feel safe, after all, they had their first kiss when they were checking the photos, and Kevin had made his promise.

"**Listen, Wendy,"** Kevin had begun, and squeezed her hand to say it was something important to tell her. She had straightened herself and decided to look in his eyes. **"I know it's a bit too early… but I have thought about asking you the question."** Kevin had said, and it looked like as if he was blushing.

"**What do you mean, Kevin? We are already dating, unofficially yet, but you know I wouldn't mind making this official."** Wendy had said, a bit ahead of herself, but she knew she had plans to make her dating to Kevin official before she left for Yale.

"**No, it's not that,"** Kevin had said, blushing further and seeming shy to ask the question he really wanted to. That was an odd sight for Wendy, since she was so used to seeing Kevin make crude jokes and look all laid back for most of the time, it was almost comical. **"I wanted to ask you the question I have been meaning to ever since we left the police station after we had saved Ian."** Kevin had admitted, holding her hand as he said it.

"**Oh…"** Wendy had said, embarrassed for getting ahead of herself with her own things. Why was that she had to say things without waiting for others to finish what they had to say? Still, what he had to ask her was a very serious thing, and it involved life consequences it were way ahead of their age group. Did she really want to make something official when she wasn't exactly ready for it? **"Kevin, listen… I understand what you want to say. But, I don't think I'm ready for this. Really Kevin, I think this is something I'm not ready to give an opinion yet. I don't want to make you feel sad or disappointed Kevin, it's just that we had only began dating ever since this whole thing happened, and I don't know if I am all that ready for this. You know?"** Wendy had given him his answer, but she felt a pang of guilt. Maybe there was one side of her that wanted to say 'Yes', but she needed to be in control of her life first. This was a new step, and she wanted to be sure she had control of how everything would go.

"**Of course, Wendy. Really, I just wanted to find a way to make this official, because I want to be a new person. I want to make sure I will take serious decisions in things related to my life, instead of leading it as if I was in some sort of comedy movie."** Kevin had said, slightly disappointed, but having respected her decision.

"**Thanks Kevin, I really mean it. You are much different from when I first saw you, and believe me, you will do much better in your goals by doing that. And you are a good person and dedicated deep inside, you just have to make sure you will find this new Kevin inside you, and you'll do well in everything you want to."** Wendy had said, stroking his face and giving him comfort to take things different in life, because she really wanted to see him succeed too. And this new Kevin that was inside him was a whole different person, that she never thought in a million years she would ever meet. That is, up until they knew each other better.

"**You are really special to me Wendy. I love you so much…"** He had said, and they shared a passionate kiss.

Looking back to all the summer she had, she had to admit to herself she missed all the things she had done. With her family, with Julie and specially with Kevin, missing the warmth of his body more than she could think of, especially in such a time of the year, it was more common to see couples embraced. Kevin had become an important person in her life, and he had made the difference to her, even if she struggled to admit at first. She could barely wait to go back to McKinley and doing him a surprise visit. There was a present for him she wanted to give from Yale: a varsity jacket and a jersey shirt from the Yale Bulldogs team, and she knew he'd like it. Maybe she'd would just accept his proposal to her, a few months away from him and being closer to one of the only people she could trust her life into was something she had considered after being all this time away, even if they were still a young couple. It would be a decision that would change their lives, but one that could be worth it. She had enough time to stabilize and take control of her life, and she felt ready to give him the answer he wanted. Plus, Kevin could have already thought about how he wanted to take things and mature his own idea, so they both could be ready for this life altering decision. Probably they could even earn some silly award of "_The Youngest Couple of McKinley_" or something. The thought made her want to laugh, but she was serious. On top of all, Wendy didn't know why, but she had a feeling that Kevin would be faithful to her while she was away. He really meant every word he had said to her, and Wendy trusted him. She wouldn't have to worry about a thing, and she knew she would be faithful to Kevin as well. And not only by the ire that Mrs. Fisher would have, but because of their new, and special bond over these last few months.

"**Smiling all by your own, Wendy?"** she heard a voice ask, and didn't even notice she was smiling. Wendy then came back to reality, where she was on a coffee shop alongside her friends.

The woman who had asked the question was none other than Kimberly Corman, her roommate at Yale. It was very intriguing, that she looked a lot like Carrie, if she had dressed in a more modest way and didn't seem too judgemental of others. She had brown hair, a sculptured face, and an average build, and had only recently resumed her university career in journalism. A native from White Plains, near New York City. She was 28 years old.

The man, meanwhile, looked around 6 years older than her, and was surprisingly handsome. Sergeant Thomas Burke, he was a cop in his mid 30's and had a welcoming face, ready to help people with whatever they needed. He had an athletic build and yet had the looks of a male model from a magazine, which Wendy reckoned how Kimberly was lucky to have a good man to be with her, even if she hadn't known Thomas for too long.

These two had known one another ever since 2001, under complicated circumstances which they didn't make very clear as to what, but were together ever since then. Kimberly was Wendy's roommate, while Thomas had come to visit and spend the holidays with her, and she had invited them both to go visit Pittsburgh before both went to a short break to New York City, to meet up with Thomas' family.

"**I don't know about you ladies, but if there is one thing I will never turn down is a warm coffee, no matter the time of the day or the circumstances,"** Thomas said, with a bright smile.

"**Coffee and toast,"** Kimberly had interjected. **"That's more of my style."** She went on, giving a hearty chuckle.

"**How about you, Wendy, what do you like to eat to start off your day?"** Thomas asked, taking a sip from his latte.

"**Well, I usually like to eat a bowl of cereal and fruit, mostly,"** she said, giving them a warm smile. **"it helps with the rhythm of the day, not eat too much, and to start off my day well."**

"**If there is one thing Wendy is good at, it's at organizing her day and finding something healthy to eat,"** Kimberly said, before taking a bite out of her croissant.

Wendy shrugged. She still had the attitude of a control freak of sorts, and it was hard to let go of that.

"**Well, not much I can do,"** she said, with a wan smile. **"It's good to have a pre-planned routine for your entire day, and make the most of it."**

They raised for a toast in agreement.

"**A steady routine is what anyone can dream of,"** Thomas had said, and took a sip of his latte again, while Kimberly took a sip of her hot chocolate. Thomas and Kimberly both seemed like they were very happy with this whole trip, and were making the most of it.

Wendy toasted with her friends in agreement. If there was one thing she still felt that people needed to have control over their lives, and have the insight plan for their goals and objectives in their lives, as opposed to leading their lives in a mess and hope everything turned out to be okay. There were no excuses for leading lives in chaotic existence. She thought like this six months ago, and still did now.

Some things never change, and these things were better the way they already were.

—

The group of friends made their way through the city after they had their pit stop for a warm coffee, and thought about something else to do in the city. Thomas thought about picking a train and heading towards the Allegheny Station, the end of the line to both Red and Blue Lines in Pittsburgh, located in the Northern part of the city. They were somewhat close to the First Avenue station, and it would be an easier access to pick up a train there, even if they didn't have many stops to go until the end of the line. Thomas needed to go there to check with a friend and Kimberly needed to go to a post office nearby. Wendy recalled there was a Hospital and a children's museum nearby, as she had went there before with her sister and recalled when her sister had a problem with her fragile heart and needed to go do a checkup.

While Kimberly and Thomas seemed to be distracted, speaking about their own personal plans, Wendy couldn't help but feel a slight shiver. A wind had just went through her, but it was cold anyways, so it wasn't like this was a big deal. The station's façade had been freshly painted a few weeks before, and the glass of the station was well kept. In general, everything seemed to be in order, so there was nothing that Wendy needed to be afraid. But why did she have a small feeling that something seemed wrong?

Inside, Kimberly and Thomas were in line to buy their tickets, with Kimberly, Thomas and Wendy in order. A rather lengthy line was in place thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday—it was interesting how no matter if it was a holiday, weekend or working day's rush hour, some methods of transport were always busy unless you picked up a late hour after midnight or something. Thankfully, no one in particular seemed to doing anything wrong. After all, if they did, there was security. Trains in general seemed like one of the safest methods of transportation that there were in major cities. They went from points A to B, B to C, C to D, D to E, E to F and so on, and rarely anything occurred. It was very difficult to imagine how riding a car or getting on a bus was riskier, but some things were not what they seemed.

As the line went forward and folks waited patiently, Wendy looked around the station, trying to see if something would end freaking her out. So far, it wasn't anything… except if you could count on the station seeming a bit dark. But then again, it was an overcast day, and the forecast spoke of a high chance of snow, with a blizzard the following days. If the cold was to be expected and the cold as well, what was she supposed to be afraid of?

Once it came Wendy's turn, she moved lines to buy her ticket. The attendant inside the booth had a grumpy expression, very similar to the person who she had seen somewhere… but where did she saw him before? She recalled it was someone she had seen this year still, but had no idea who. Maybe it was just her mind playing tricks with her… unless this was one of the people from Red River? Unlikely, but still…

She then made her way alongside her roommate and her boyfriend towards the train. She had to pass through the turnstiles, which had made a sharp noise—_CLACK… CLACK… CLACK…_—and recalled how it was the same noise as the turnstilles everywhere in the world, except the last time she heard it was on that stupid Devil's Ride. What happened to Red River Adventure Park after all? Hadn't they closed it after the accident happened and 12 lives were lost on the park's main attraction? She hadn't had a clue, she had erased the bad memories from that time and didn't want to go back. All the carnage and disgrace, all the tears for Jason and everything that happened afterwards, she didn't need all of this again in her life.

Kimberly and Thomas were ahead of her, having climbed the steps towards the station platform, and she was still on the ground floor. Damn, she really needed to let go of all that had happened five months ago! She was on a completely different rhythm now. She had been able to save herself, her late boyfriend's best friend that had become her new boyfriend, and her sister. It was over!

"**Hey Wendy, everything alright?"** Kimberly asked, after Wendy had made her way towards the upper floor.

"**Yeah, everything okay,"** Wendy replied, not entirely within the mood towards her friend. She wanted to admit about what happened to her before they met, but what would be her opinion of her then? Would she believe her, or would she just ignore and say everything was alright, exactly like Jason had said to her shortly before the accident happened?

"**Hey Wendy, come on. I know you, what's up?"** Kimberly had asked, holding up a finger to Thomas, who came back to check up on them.

Wendy pondered. Should she REALLY tell her friend what happened to her five months ago? And about the whole Flight 180 business? She had the value of knowledge now, she wouldn't be in the dark about Death's design and how the laws of the world worked, but would Kimberly or Thomas feel the same?

"**I uh… Well, it's a long story,"** Wendy had begun, trying to see if she could say step by step. **"Something happened to me six months ago, something I have never told you before… it's very complicated you see. But it did happen and it was real."** Wendy went on, trying to gather her thoughts and make this as straightforward as possible. Her friend wouldn't make fun of her, and she wasn't telling the story to a piece of shit like Ian McKinley after all.

"**Hm, I understand. What happened exactly?"** Kimberly retorted, making a very concerned face like Wendy had never seen before. She could see her exchange glances with Thomas before both returned their eyes to Wendy.

"**Well, okay. Six months ago, I was leading a slightly different life. I had a different boyfriend, called Jason Wise, and my current boyfriend was his best friend. We had decided to go in my school's senior trip to a theme park called Red River Adventure Park. Now, I don't recall if it closed down, but you heard about an accident that happened there, with the Devil's Ride roller coaster?"** Wendy said, going in steps trying to carefully explain her story.

Kimberly and Thomas exchanged worried glances again, as if they knew something about what happened. **"Yes, we actually did remember. A real tragedy. So you were involved in it, and someone had a vision that the ride was going to crash before it did?"** Thomas asked, sounding kind, but firm in his voice. Kimberly seemed to share the same exact sentiment as her partner.

Wendy looked at them both, incredulous as to how they knew someone had a vision, only they didn't know it was her that had it. **"How did you… know someone had a vision before the accident?"** Wendy asked, a bit paranoid. She wasn't afraid because they knew of the circumstances, since this sort of thing did happen once before with Flight 180 and a few other accidents before, but how did they know pin point on how someone had a vision.

Thomas looked at Kimberly kindly, and put a hand over her shoulder, with Kimberly looking down before returning to look at Wendy. **"Wendy… remember when I told you me and Thomas knew one another under 'strange circumstances?'"** Kimberly asked.

Wendy just nodded, curious to see what her friend had for her.

"**Well… that was the strange circumstance. I was going out with my friends for a road trip during spring break. While I was on ramp for heading towards Route 23, the one that connects White Plains to Daytona Beach, I had a vision. I managed to save some lives, including Thomas, who had saved me seconds before a semi truck crashed into my car and killed my friends there."** Kimberly said, her face seemingly distant, and cold.

Wendy couldn't believe what she was hearing. She never thought, a million years she would meet with another survivor of an accident in her lifetime, that had survived to tell the tale. On top of all, she had printed the copy of the newspaper that spoke about the Route 23 accident and showed to Kevin shortly after Ashley and Ashlyn had died on that freak accident in the tanning booths. Still, she could see how the accident affected her friend, having lost her own friends on a sudden way, much like how she had lost Jason in the freak accident.

"**But that wasn't all. The freaky part was that people began to die one by one in the following days. First, it was Evan Lewis, a lottery winner. Then a young boy, Tim Carpenter, followed by his mother, Nora, and so on."** Thomas continued the story, seeing that Kimberly remembered her friends that had passed. **"To make things even stranger, we had the help of the sole survivor of Flight 180, Clear Rivers, the girlfriend of Alex Browning, the one who had seen the whole accident through a premonition, just like Kim here. And worse: we were all on Death's to begin with - the deaths of the passengers from Flight 180 made us cheat Death as well, adding us to its list. And because of that, Death worked backwards, tying up all the loose ends. It's a very complicated story, Wendy, but it did happen to us."** Thomas went on, looking serious.

Wendy couldn't believe it. On top of being the survivors of an accident, they had met an original survivor from Flight 180? This was slowly getting into freaky territory, and she didn't know if she wanted to hear anything else anymore. But part of her decided to stay and hear, because last time she had her thoughtless actions thrown after her when she was calmer. It was just hard to admit that she wasn't alone, and she really wished she could be happy for that. **"I'm… so sorry, Kimberly. I…"** Wendy paused, unsure what else to say. **"I went through the same thing. Except for me, people didn't die in reverse order, and the photographs I took in the park were the clues on how people were going to die. Still, I managed to save my sister and my new boyfriend, Kevin. After a few months, we were all free from danger… at least, how it felt."** Wendy said, uncertain of her words now, having heard Kimberly and Thomas' story.

"**Well, Clear showed us a man, a guy who owned a funeral home, his name is William Bludworth. He had said that 'only new life defeats death', in a cryptic manner mind you. One of the people on ramp was in labour, but she was never meant to die in the accident, so the baby she had didn't affect Death's list."** Kimberly continued, sounding stronger now. **"Sadly, Clear died trying to save another survivor, Eugene Hooper. But I had realized then that the 'new life' could be someone who had died and managed to be saved. So I drowned myself, and Thomas rescued me, and I was brought back to life, earning this 'new life' and saving us both."**

Wendy was almost shocked to hear all of this. She had never thought about this before! Ian had told her, jokingly, that a way to defeat Death would be to the last person in line to commit suicide, with all that thing about Newton's Third Law. But now she had realized that the actual opposite of Death was 'Life'! **"So that means… to defeat Death, I'd need to have a baby or kill myself and be revived?"** Wendy asked, trying not to speak too loud, to not attract enough attention. She had realized they were standing there talking about life and death almost as if they were some escapees from a funny farm.

"**Well, according to the mortician, yes. That's how we were able to save ourselves, thanks to Kim. And believe me, he really did seem to know a lot about Death."** Thomas interjected, looking firm but supportive of both ladies.

Wendy was sure she was about to have a fit. She needed to warn Kevin and Julie! This wasn't over! **"We gotta warn my sister and my boyfriend then! We were able to save ourselves, but I never had this thing about having a 'new life' thing before you did!"** Wendy said, almost as if she was about to cry. She needed so badly to talk to them, that she wanted to just go back and stay home.

"**Wendy, Wendy! Relax, please!"** Kimberly said to her friend, wanting her to feel better and to stop freaking out about this whole thing. She was now embarrassed about having told all that thing to her, because it seemed to do worse to her as opposed to calm her down. Kimberly had understood already that it was Wendy who had a vision and saw the whole roller coaster accident, but she now felt the weight of the knowledge having hit her friend in a bad way. **"Listen to me, you aren't in danger! Clear once told me that she and her friends were free of trouble for six months before Death was back to torment them, and I have reasons to believe you are all safe for now! But I need you to calm down."**

"**Exactly, Wendy. Alex and Clear had gone through more scenarios than any other survivor we have any clue about, so it's fair to say you and your friends are safe. You can believe our word, Wendy."** Thomas said, giving her a reassuring smile. He knew she would be alright.

Wendy had sighed, closing her eyes. They were right, she was overreacting with her paranoia. She had recalled once more all the horror that happened to her and her friends back then, and she knew she didn't want to go through all of this once more. But then again, she wasn't feeling the 'presence' of death itself, so it was very likely that she was only paranoid and worried about dying. **"You know… you guys are right. It's just that, you know, I had gone through all that enough for a lifetime, and I don't want to feel like I'm threatened again, by everything I go though. It's a nightmare that doesn't ever stop and can drive anyone crazy, you guys went through it. But you're right! I'm freaking out when I'm not supposed to. Still, thanks for helping me out, I really appreciate."** Wendy had said, sighing and letting it go. On top of everything, Kimberly and Thomas had gone through the same nightmare, and they too were alert for any signs, so she wasn't alone.

"**That's the spirit, Wendy. Come on, we are here to help you to go through all of this. Remember, you can always talk to us when you think something is about to happen. With luck, you won't need to go through a near-death experience to get away from this, you'll see. Come on Tom, let's go!"** Kimberly said, sounding stronger and her voice full of life.

The friends made their way through the platform, with Wendy feeling much better now that she had someone willing to help her stay alert. She just hoped this Thanksgiving would go without any major problem.

"**Ladies first,"** Thomas said, gesturing to both Kimberly and Wendy to get inside the train, which had arrived at the same time they made their way towards the platform. Thankfully the train had a heater and would help them go their voyage without freezing.

As they got inside the train, it soon closed its doors and went towards the next station. The other stops were mostly underground with the exception of the Allegheny Station. As the train made its way, the passengers were soon dipped in the darkness of the tunnels. If Wendy had noticed the train's number—Train 081—she would probably have freaked out.

—

The train was now completely underground, with the lights around the tunnels and the train proper being the only way to illuminate the path around it. It almost seemed as if the world had gone dark, with a strange presence hanging around and putting people who were not accustomed to such darkness into high alert. But Bludworth knew this job as a train conductor was much better than being a security at Red River. He recalled how a girl had a freak out before riding a roller coaster, like most people did, only that her warning that the coaster would crash was the difference.

Red River… that name was distant and it was something Bludworth wanted to forget. He was a happy and friendly man, despite his large and bulky size. Only difference that he knew when to be serious and when to joke, and that girl seemed like she was causing a commotion for no reason. Still, his partner, Colquitt, was hotheaded. He always took his job seriously, but a bit too seriously for his liking. They usually did shifts together, but the truth was that Bludworth disliked his partner. He always seemed like he wanted to boss people around and bark his orders to others, especially when there was a task at hand.

After the whole accident back at McKinley, Red River had closed down due to the accident involving teenagers and faulty equipment. The family had struggled to pay the bereavement for the deceased, which came as a heavy price towards everyone involved, and they were forced to close down. And by proxy, Bludworth and Colquitt had lost their jobs. Anders Colquitt was married and had children, while Howard Bludworth had been single, only if you considered a few dates here and there. Due to their security training and strong build, the duo considered joining the McKinley Police Department, but only Colquitt had ended up doing so. Bludworth didn't want to admit, but he had been heavily affected by the whole nasty business that happened there. The gore and violence of the crash, the bodies and the equipment all mangled as if it was one creature, it had deeply affected him. So much that he decided to move far away from the town, settling in Pittsburgh to find a job and look for new opportunities. In the end, he became a train conductor for Pittsburgh Light Rail, being a job he appreciated and was always moving around, seeing parts of the city, while at the same time having a fixed place to work. Due to his size, he worked some shifts as a security guard, which helped to supplement his income. All in all, it seemed as if that was one of the best things that happened to his life. His grandfather used to say a lot about the fact that sometimes you had to take a step backwards to take two steps forward. These words seemed very true to him now.

Despite the overall dislike for his partner, he still maintained contact with Colquitt and a few other people in town. Apparently, ever since some random accidents began to happen in town, the McKinley Police Department jurisdiction had decided to upgrade their equipment and focus on further train and capacitate those who worked there. It seemed Colquitt scored big at the end, lucky fucker.

Either way, Bludworth decided this wasn't his concern, and focused again on the task at hand. He was in a good mood today, and decided to play around with the passengers on his train via the announcement system.

—

As the train moved closer towards its final destination, right now heading towards Gateway Station, Wendy enjoyed some tunes that were being played by a busker, while his partner collected tips from passengers. Apparently, the song was called "_ACF_", yet she had no idea what that sequence of letters stood for.

"**I need to check a few things at the store first, And then I'll go and phone my mother about the reunion we'll have this weekend."** Thomas replied to Wendy, which prompted her to nod. Thomas was in need of a vehicle part for the repair for his car, and he got a good price from a mechanic nearby.

"**It will be fun,"** Kimberly said, smiling. **"I'll be honest, Tom, I can't wait to eat some turkey with pie, stuffing, cream gravy. Your mother makes the best I've ever had."**

"**Has your dad confirmed if he's coming or not? My aunt really wants to meet up with him again, said he's a great company."** Thomas replied, chuckling.

"**Your aunt really loves my father apparently,"** Kimberly replied, rolling her eyes, but finding the whole ordeal funny. **"It's almost as if she has a thing for him, maybe they should just start dating already you know? I know I wouldn't be jealous of her."**

"**Well, both of them are already in a good age to start dating, and they are very close in the age gap question. I just wished aunt Lina would remember she's 53…"** Thomas said, shaking his head with disapproval in his aunt's antics.

"**Yeah, that I can't argue. I guess… good for her you know? She still believes she got it going on, then good for her."** Kimberly replied, with a shrug.

With an amused smile, Wendy turned around to look at the map of the subway. She could see there were at least three more stops to go, including this upcoming one. While she was looking around the map however, she felt a chill go down her spine.

"_**There is someone, walking behind you…**_**"** the busker suddenly began to sing a different song. **"**_**...Turn around, look at me…**_**" **he went on.

Wendy darted her eyes towards him as if they were daggers. She couldn't believe it, was he really singing that damned song? Was he doing it because of her? She could feel her paranoia racing and her instincts flare up as he sang the song.

"_**There is someone watching your footsteps, turn around look at me…**_**"** he kept going, making eye contact with Wendy as he began to sing. He was a handsome male with blond hair, and thought Wendy was flirting with him, so he gave a smile and looked back at her. This just made Wendy even more paranoid than before, not understanding anything.

She felt a breeze pass through her. This was impossible, she was inside a train! How could a breeze this cold could be here? Only if…

As she looked away, she saw the faces of those who were waiting on Gateway Station, all looking blurred and standing. She could see a boy with his hand over a girl's shoulder, mirroring exactly the pose Jason had been with her shot that night. She closed her eyes and tried to hold back tears, fighting her desire.

The doors of the train opened up and a few passengers came in, and Wendy fought tooth and nail against her desire to just run away and leave Kimberly and Thomas behind. She wasn't feeling well, despite their reassurances that she was safe. The lights inside the train were also flickering, and this wasn't normal. Wasn't anyone else seeing this?

Wendy looked back at the busker, who was still singing the song. **"**_**...There is someone, who really needs you… Here's my heart…**_**"** he crooned on, as he and his companion left the train shortly before the train doors closed.

She then looked at Kimberly and Thomas and they seemed lost in their own conversation. Another breeze came from nowhere as if calling for her attention to turn around, just as the song suggested, and her heart sank: The number 180 showed up on the train. No! This couldn't be! She remembered her lesson in her physics class how letters, numbers and everything in mirrors appeared in the opposite direction as they were, so their train was only "081" as opposed to "180". Still, that didn't do anything to make her calm.

The train then began making its way to the next stop towards Northside Station. As it sped through, Wendy chewed on her lip and decided to look around, her eyes catching the advertisements inside the bus. She saw things that made her want to freak out: "_BUTCHIE BURGER: NOW AVAILABLE STATEWIDE!_", "_HOME LAND WAREHOUSE: THE BEST HOME IMPROVEMENT STORE IN AMERICA_", "_PHOENIX TANNING SALON: WHERE EVERYBODY TANS!_", "_MONTGOMERY & GLICK — ACCOUNTING SERVICES. 'THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM __**DEATH**__ AND __**TAXES**__'._" What the hell was going on?! She was definitely about to have a breakdown and a fit at the same time, these names were the places where Frank, Erin, Ashley and Ashlyn died. This was more than just a mere coincidence — it was a warning.

"**Kimberly, Thomas?"** Wendy asked, her voice crackling. They turned their eyes to her, unsure about the inner battle happening inside her.

"**What's wrong, Wendy? Are you feeling okay?"** Kimberly asked, unconvinced but still with her attention turned towards her friend.

"**Look…"** Wendy pointed at the advertisements, but the couple was oblivious to their significance at first. **"My classmates, the ones who were on the roller coaster… they-"**

"**This is Northside Station. The next stop is Allegheny Station, the end of the line. The next stop is the END OF THE LINE." **The voice squawked from the speaker, interrupting Wendy. It sounded familiar, a deep voice from someone she had met before in the past, but couldn't recall who belonged to. It did prompt Wendy to bolt away from her seat, almost as if a strong current was passing through them.

"**Coincidences… it could very well be Death's warning. We better go, Kim."** Thomas suggested that they should perhaps go the next station on foot. It was cold, but it was better to walk and feel warm than possibly be dead.

"**Yeah, let's not take any chances. Better safe than sorry."** Kimberly said, being understanding of her friend. She would never risk their lives for no reason, and that made Wendy feel comfortable. At least they understood how she felt, and she wouldn't need to create any excuse.

The train rumbled in the tunnels on its way towards Northside Station.

—

The only thing in Ted's mind was how would they celebrate after this victory. There was no way how those chickens from Stars would win against the great Bruins. The overall Super Bowl season had been going well for the Bruins, and they were scoring well.

He and his group of friends had no reason not to party and be excited. They made their way, pushing around anyone who stood in front of them, while they anxiously went to catch their train.

"**YEAH, BRUINS!"** his friend, Larry yelled, chewing on his snack bar, and launching towards the trash can, which bounced back to the station's floor, oblivious to his mishap.

Due to the rumbling and wind produced by the train, the snack bar, that was a little too close towards the platform, ended up falling beside the tracks. A hungry rat sensed the snack's sugary smell and went to see what was in, finding a half chewed chocolate bar all to herself to eat. The snack was a little too close to two loosened wires, which connected to the current of the tram system. It was responsible for passing electricity around the train locks and the switches, which in turn allowed the trains to safely pass towards their destination, without derraling or making one train crash into another.

As the train came to a halt, a woman wished a good trip to Wendy, and she could see the football fans anxiously waiting to get in, blocking her way and pushing other passengers around as they tried to leave. Wendy attempted to leave but the football fans kept getting in her way.

"**Yo, comin' thru!"** one of the people in group announced, as if it was giving a reason. Pushing and bickering around the others, with one of his friends bumping into Thomas.

Wendy then found someone who she wouldn't believe she'd meet here, of all places.

"**Oh my God, I can't believe this!"** a voice called. It was Julie Christensen, her sister, who gave Wendy a warm hug.

Wendy gave her sister a hug as well, but couldn't believe that it was such a coincidence had happened. Still, she was happy to see her, after three whole months!

The train doors closed behind them.

* * *

Here is Wendy Christensen's POV of the last five months ever since what happened at the Tri-Centennial, and the beginnings of the train accident.

I wanted to give a much deeper insight into the characters to show what they had gone through ever since what happened last, as opposed to directly going to the accident, since Christa Faust's novelization is rich in detail. Hopefully, I managed to be true to the characters.

Next is Julie's POV.


	3. Chapter 25: Julie's POV

**TWENTY-FIVE**

It was rather cold for a late November, and Julie Christensen hated it. She was the sort of girl that liked warm weather, that you were able to go out and enjoy a day with your friends, plus the plentiful hours of sunlight that late spring and the entire summer brought. Not only that, but it was a perfect opportunity to dress in a way it would get attention from those handsome boys around town. Some folks disliked hot to warm weather, preferring the cold, but Julie didn't care. Right now, she was dressed with a denim coat, right on top of a sweater, that was on top of a long sleeve shirt. For her pants, she had a long john under her denim jeans, and long warm socks for her impermeable boots. If she was forced to face the cold, she would be stylish. The days of snow coming and it didn't help much that McKinley was so close to the town of Erie and Lake Erie, where lake-effect snow dumped it's frosty snowflakes all over town. This was definitely Wendy's favorite season, and Julie's most disliked one. Good thing her birthday was in June twenty-fifth, and she didn't have all that mass of snowflakes to ruin her birthday. Fuck you, cold weather!

Recently, however, there was a different reason why Julie disliked the cold, and it was due to the melancholy and overall feeling of sadness. Her best friend Perry had died five months ago, in a freak impaling accident, with a flag penetrating right at her cervix. Julie had been in a convulsionary state, but even then she could see her friend's blood oozing on the grass, as well as the spongy tissue of her lungs. It had been a horrible sight to see, and even after five months passing, that sight just wouldn't go away.

Julie struggled to admit, but now she knew why was her sister so sad and worried about things. On top of having lost a boyfriend that really loved her very much, she saw other classmates die in freak accidents as well. To make things worse, Julie and Perry had been in that whole mess, with both being blissfully unaware towards all this confusing thing. Julie wasn't like Wendy, that needed to be in control of things, but she definitely had learned a lesson to not be all that carefree ever again.

Shit, on top of all, after Ian stood in front of Wendy, it skipped her sister. If the list started over again, it would have been Julie's turn. She spoke to her sister as well as with Kevin plentifully about this whole "Death" thing, and they found that with people who had it happen to them before had this list starting over. Strangely enough, however, nothing ever seemed to happen to Julie ever since then.

Absolutely nothing, no crashing accidents, no slipping on liquids and bumping your head in something, or strangling yourself in your own bathroom. It really crushed Julie to see her big (and dorky, in a lovable way) sister worry almost to the point of having a heart attack, of anyone being next at any point in time if they were away from her sight, and how they should just go ahead and make their entire house proof against sharp edges, explosions, and or a demolition. For the first time, Julie had to be the one in the shoes of a big sister and tell her to calm down, and perhaps warn their parents about this.

Wendy had said it would have been a bad idea, with their mother freaking out about it, and ask them to go and visit a doctor or psychiatrist. If their mother and father have believed in the whole Death thing, then Julie could very well be screwed on a regard — more frequent visits to Doctor Finebitch (as Julie liked to call her), as if she had an ultimate ointment to repair fragile hearts and make sure Death wouldn't scare her daughter to the point of death. If that happened, then the entire Christensen family would receive a one way ticket to head straight to the funny farm, no questions about it.

So it was better to keep it as it was, on the whole scale. Heck, even Amber who wasn't on Death's list understood everything, and Julie could trust her friend her sister and her sister's new boyfriend to be on her side if anything went wrong. Only this time, Julie would be sure to take the topmost care that she could of herself. Nothing with too much of a thrill, being careful with places that looked dangerous and all that sort of stuff. It was for the best, of course. Wendy and Kevin would be heading to separate colleges and she wouldn't have them to count on in case anything happened, as she'd be in her senior year of high school. That meant Julie would be all by herself to watch over accidents and weird signs, and warn them in time in case they were next. Shit, it was all freaky and way too complicated.

But thankfully, none of these signs ever came. The rest of their summer had been very peaceful enough, and Kevin had managed to reassure Wendy she was protected and had someone by her side at all times, at least before they went to college. But Julie knew for a fact that they were safe. After all, the sequence of deaths seemed to have happened in such a short time scale. Wendy too claimed she didn't feel the "presence" which made her feel like Death was coming anymore. Julie, humorously enough, had to take in the temporary role of a big sister once again and tell Wendy not to worry.

"**Look, sis, I told you. It's over,"** Julie had told Wendy, when they were both at her own bedroom, that Wendy struggled to understand the design choice for it. **"We've kicked Death's ass, on top of giving them a middle finger. We're survivors, and nothing can stop us, you understand?"**

"**Yes Julie, but… don't you think something could still happen? You are next. Once I start having the feeling again, who knows if I'll be too late to save you… Oh God, I can't even think about the possibility of losing you. It would hurt too much just… even think."** Wendy has said, struggling to hold back tears, and as usual, having shown her motherly way. Under normal circumstances, Julie would have told her to quit, as it was getting on her nerves this sort of thing.

"**Sis… listen to me,"** Julie had said, softly, trying to calm Wendy down. It almost seemed like she was about to have a breakdown, and Julie didn't want to see her in such a state. **"We did it, we truly did. Kevin saved me, and you saved Kevin. We are all here alive and well, and also because of you."** Julie had said, surprising herself with it. **"If it wasn't for you, none of us would have survived the Red River Adventure Park, and both me and probably Kevin would have died in that Tri-Centennial. It is thanks to you that we are safe. And tell me, do you feel Death's presence still?"**

Wendy had sheepishly shook her head with a slight frown, showing indeed she had been worried about something that wouldn't happen. **"No, no I haven't. It's just that… I feel so alone in all this. Not by you or Kevin, but by not knowing anyone else who had gone through this nightmare, and I'm afraid it could happen all over again. I guess that's why I became stuck on that prison of ice. I didn't want any of those feelings to come out, I wanted things to be normal again, all of these worries out and me leading a different life again. I can't lose any of you two…"** Wendy had begun to let tears escape from her eyes as she had said so, which made Julie see how this was affecting her, deeply. But now she knew why. It was too much for a person to bear all by herself.

Julie had put a comforting hand over her sister's shoulder, wanting her to be stronger than this, and knowing she had what it took. After all, it was for Julie that their grandmother gave the bracelet, but Julie had been sharing with Wendy lately for whenever one of the siblings needed strength to them. Neither one of them seemed to let it go of it, and it sort of became a lucky charm to both.

"**Wendy, sis, listen to me. We both are fighters. Look,"** Julie showed Wendy the bracelet, which had been her turn to have it with her. **"You don't have to be afraid, because you got me. And I'm not afraid now - much to the contrary - I feel the strongest I have ever been. Giving death the slip is scary as shit, I know, but I feel like I am ready to face it. Nothing will stop me, nor Kevin, and I'm sure nothing will stop you either!"** Julie had said, giving her sister a warm smile and inviting her for a warm hug, which she did.

The siblings embraced one another, perhaps it was one of the more genuine hugs that Julie had given her, which made her feel guilty because of it, only to then remember that all of that was over, and all the other things she would say to Wendy would be truthful. She wouldn't and she couldn't lie to her anymore after all that had happened.

"**And just remember you always have someone to count on. And if Death ever appears before you, you can calm me and I'll kick its ass and send it flying it so far it'll end up in outer space. Got it?"** Julie had said, adding a bit of humour to the conversation and being stronger than she intended to, because it was a way for her to feel stronger and not afraid.

"**Heh, thanks Julie, I'll be sure to do that."** Wendy had said, chuckling to her sister's snarky comment. It had been good to see her look alive again, and Julie meant it.

"**Well, I'm going out with Amber now, we plan on meeting up with some other friends and hang out. Do you wanna go too? I think even Kevin can come with us, if he feels like it."** Julie had said, having decided to invite her sister for the first time to go out with her, in a way to make things right, and also because Julie herself felt comfortable with having her older sister with her now. It was curious how being close to death brought people closer to one another.

"**Uh, no thanks, Julie. I have to see a few things here at home first. I'll be working on some of the language studies that I ended up skipping before heading to Yale, and now I will try to see what I can recover from the lost time. "** Wendy had said. She seemed like she wanted to go, but Julie could see how some things didn't change.

"**Alright. My cell is charged, OK? Anything wrong I'll give you a call. Remember - we are fighters and nothing will happen!"** Julie had then lastly said, giving her sister one last embrace before going.

Julie had a lot of fun that summer, but in the end, something was missing. She knew what it was, and it was Perry.

Amber was a good friend to Julie as well, but Perry was closer to her. It felt bad to be saying that, but Julie had to be real to herself - Amber was stylish and had a fun sense of adventure, but Perry had been the real deal.

That girl was a natural born adventurer. Both in her sly way of being, such as getting in and out of trouble easily, but also because she wanted to visit plenty of exotic places in her life. Her family had been saving money to have a family trip to a resort in some distant place in Southeast Asia she could barely remember the name.

Sadly, all that was cut short by her sudden death at the Tri-Centennial. After that, neither Julie nor Amber's life were the same, nor the Malinowski family. Her funeral had been very somber and sad, a complete contrast to how Perry's personality had been. It had been a painful reminder of what had happened in a creepy sequence merely weeks after all the funerals for the deceased in the roller coaster. Almost as if it was a missing episode that never aired of a cartoon.

Julie was heartbroken, but not as much as Craig Malinowski, nor their parents. Craig was a natural clown much like Kevin and many other boys of their age, but much like how Jason and Carrie's deaths had shook him into an instantaneous adulthood, so did Perry's death towards Craig. The siblings were pretty much "partners in crime", as Amber liked to say, with both Craig and Perry getting frequently in trouble and helping the sibling to get out of it in question, or both getting into trouble and dividing the lecture together whenever not possible. Ever since her death, Craig looked constantly somber, preferring to be quiet and keeping it all to himself. Julie tried talking to him, but didn't get much success. She knew he needed his own time to go through this, but Julie really wanted to give him a hand and help him. She liked him for his bad boy attitude and for being a popular kid, as well because they had a positive friend relationship, which was admirable. Everything, sadly, had changed, and Julie had felt a pang of guilt in the end, because the way Craig was could very well be the way Wendy would be in case Julie had died that day. On top of that, Mr. and Mrs. Malinowski too were devastated. Perry was the youngest member in the family, and it all came to a shocking realization that she would never be with them ever again. And so they treated Craig with an intense and suffocating protection, to make sure this wouldn't happen to him.

That example of parental and sibling grief had been extremely saddening to see, and Julie thought deeply about that. She did too cry a few days after Perry's death, blaming herself for not seeing it coming. She couldn't be angry with her sister and Kevin, as they didn't know who it was next to her on that night. Fuck that, none of them should have been on that roller coaster in the first place! That thing had real consequences for her during this entire time, and Julie should have been stronger and have told the truth to Wendy. That way, she would have faced the music much sooner and Perry would have been saved by Wendy or Kevin. But not now, now Perry was dead, with Julie and Amber having found the need to spend time trying to ease up and try to let it go.

The interesting thing was that Perry would have laughed at this absurdity, Death's list, order of accidents, absolutely everything. It was almost as if the death of one of the trio of friends had died, the remaining ones would have a hard time to reconcile.

They knew if Perry was alive, she would have told them to stop moaning and crying over her, and live their lives as normal, that the grief would end them. So that's what Julie and Amber (to a lesser degree, since she is the more emotional of the trio) tried to do—enjoy their holidays until their senior year came up.

In contrast to all this saddening experience, the most amazing thing that happened to her during this entire time had been her meeting up with Hart Fisher, the second son of Kent Fisher and one of the brothers of Kevin Fisher. In amazing contrast to all the emotions that she had during the holidays, which included confusion, anger, fear and grief, this one had been amusing, and perhaps funny one.

It was no secret in McKinley High that Kevin, Hart and Adam (plus Ryan, that would be starting at McKinley this year, as she later learned) were brothers, but one was so different from the other. Kevin was the clown but also an intelligent young man, whom Julie thought it was an okay guy before this whole nightmare started. After she knew him better, Kevin was pretty much an interesting guy, and reliable person—with a hint of being a more fun company than her sister Wendy; Adam was the brains and a very serious person, already having found work and following his father's footsteps in life—way too serious for Julie's liking; Ryan, probably the one who looked the closest to Kevin, but still with a bit too immature (even for her standards); The other one was Hart, who Julie wondered how the fuck did she start dating him.

Hart was very nerdy and thin looking, which reminded her of Frank Cheek in a few ways, only with a more reclusive and nice personality compared to the former. She definitely was out of his league by a good bunch, but he had been the nicest to her outside the circle of her family and friends. When they started McKinley, she could recall how often he would look after her, even perhaps trying to catch her attention by waving at her or simply buying a Valentine's Day gift anonymously to her. It looked like a stalking at first, almost, but Julie knew he was sincere and wanted to know her better, since he never invaded her personal space and left her to choose.

Julie never treated him badly, interestingly, but preferred distance from him. Perry had been more critical, calling him a freak, but Julie was indifferent. She preferred the older boys, more to the bad boy vibe and who liked getting in danger (especially considering a brief crush with Jason Wise), and Craig Malinowski. She never thought she would give Hart Fisher a chance to be with her, but here she was, dating him ever since July.

It was strange, since she met him better once Wendy and Julie decided to hang out, and they went for a stop at the Fisher's home. There, she had met Hart, who at first seemed anxious to take the opportunity to talk to her, but also seemed unsure if he would make her uncomfortable. She resolved the issue by deciding to speak to him, and see what was all that about. Perhaps he did deserve a chance, she thought, perhaps he could be an interesting person. It was a great decision in the end.

They had spent hours talking about their favorite bands, their favorite TV shows, their activities and even things they would like to do in the future. Despite looking nerdy and being into computers or something complicated, Hart Fisher wanted to be a gymnast, or at least an athlete. He had absolutely no build for that, but it was still interesting to see how he liked stuff that you'd rather find in a group of NASCAR enthusiasts or something of the kind. Still, he liked similar things that Julie did, and she felt slightly sheepish why she had never given him the chance.

It was because of her way of thinking, of course. The close call with Death made her think very seriously on her approach to things, and she struggled to admit she lost a bit of her adventurous spirit, and decided to be more careful with things, as well as give a chance to things she didn't like or people whom she never get to know better.

"**I always thought it would be interesting to work out and be with folks that want to improve their health, you know?"** Hart had said, speaking about his interests.

"**Yeah, it's cool. I could have sworn you would be more interested in computers or math."** Julie had replied, humorously towards him, but still paying attention to what he had to say.

"**I'll be honest, I HATE math! My bros Ryan and Adam like it, but I never did. So irritating to solve those abstract numbers and see how things work. Give me Physical Education any day!"** Hart had said, rolling his eyes and shrugging afterwards.

"**I know right? People should be doing more interesting things with their time instead of looking at the numbers and see how they work."** Julie had said, curiously feeling laid back as their casual talk about school.

"**How about you, Julie? What would you like to do?"** Hart had asked, curious to know more of her tastes.

"**I honestly don't know. I always liked the idea of architecture, I guess, drawing things and such. You know? Something about that."** Julie had said, considering carefully her thoughts. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do for real, and her time to think about her SAT scores and her future profession was fast coming. By 2006, she would be in a university just like Wendy was, studying for her major. She would need to think seriously about all of this, and make use of her last year in school for that.

"**Architecture sounds pretty cool. Designing and projecting things is pretty nice."** Hart had said, before they moved into other interesting topics.

It had been a great conversation that day, and as time passed by, Julie began dating Hart. By the beginning of their senior school year, they were already in a stable relationship. Hart was a better partner compared to any other she had dated through her years, always up for a fun activity and in a good mood for hanging out. It was good for her to feel alive after such things that happened to her, especially her sister. She felt alive again.

She almost forgot about Kevin too, who had come to visit her house a few days ago. He wanted to give Wendy a surprise, which he didn't specify what exactly, but seemed to be something big and which her sister would have liked. It was good to see Kevin feeling alive and unworried about the whole thing about Death. And he seemed to be specifically happy about her dating his younger brother. Julie assumed Wendy thought the same, and it almost felt like it was an irony of destiny. Two siblings from one family dating the respective siblings from the other family.

"**You suddenly went quiet Julie, are you alright?"** Grant Christensen suddenly spoke, distracting Julie from her thoughts, and making her pause her iPod.** "Ah, I didn't see you were listening to music."** Grant had said, giving her daughter a short smile as he drove towards their path, Pittsburgh. He had gone there for a last minute measure to find a store open to buy tools for his car, that was in dire need of repairing, and he wouldn't wait any longer to do so. He did ask his wife Sophie, but she seemed to be with her mind on other things lately. Not wanting to argue with her and instead take things to a "do it yourself" route, he decided he would repair his own car. Julie had decided to come with him to keep him company and because she too wanted to buy her sister a last minute gift to add with Kevin's.

"**Not much, pa. I was just thinking how good were my holidays,"** Julie replied, partially lying. True, she wasn't only thinking about her holidays only, but she knew if she told how she was feeling, her father wouldn't exactly understand. Plus, she was alright for now, and in no immediate danger.

"**Hm, always thinking about a break, eh Julie?"** Grant chuckled, but also partially chiding her. Unaware to what she was missing.

"**Yeah, it just feels good to wake up at the time you want and do things at the time you want."** Julie said, in good humour and agreeing with her father.

"**It is indeed. Too bad you barely see and you are already in need to start working. I've been speaking a lot to your mother, and we want to have an important talk to both you and Wendy this Thanksgiving. It'll be very important."** Grant said, sounding very serious about it.

"**What is it about, pa?"** Julie asked, already sensing that it was something that she would probably dislike.

"**I prefer to talk to when we're all together. But it will be about our family's finances. We're going to need your help from now on, Julie. It has been hard to pay for things lately, and we're gonna need your and Wendy's help in home expenses. So we'd like to talk about allowances, jobs, and things alike. We'll talk better back at home."** Grant said, looking serious but calm.

Julie knew it had been some bullshit, and she sensed that her family was going to need her and her sister's help. With paying for things or at least have them pay for their own things while their parents took care of the rest, which included their house. She knew this time was going to come, but she didn't feel exactly prepared for this. It was going to be hard to study for six or so more months and work as well, and she preferred if she could at least finish high school and later on find her own job once she got her things going. For most of the time, it was easy to convince her father of what she had in mind, but her mother would usually have the final say in things and it was nigh impossible to change her mind about anything that she thought it was final.

"**Well, pa, alright. I just hope ma is okay with me at least finishing up school first before that. It would be easier for me, you know?"** Julie had said, trying to see if she could at least get something going with him before to later talk to her mother.

"**We'll speak more about this once we come home. I don't want your mother to know I told this to you in advance, otherwise she won't be best pleased. Alright?"** Grand had stated, and confined his secret with her beforehand, to which Julie agreed to treat as one before they did.

"**Sure thing, pa. Don't worry, and also thanks too for warning me beforehand,"** Julie replied, thankful for her father's heads up, who looked at her and gave a warm smile.

They were driving through the uptown part of the city, a few miles close to landmarks such as the Point State Park, Heinz Hall for Performing Arts and Pittsburgh Unity Station. All of a sudden, Grant Christensen's car began making a weird nose, which startled him, only to suddenly die out of nowhere.

"**What the…?"** Grant said, realizing he was next to Julie and deciding not to curse.** "What happened?"**

"**What's wrong, pa?"** Julie asked, worried for the car to suddenly stop out of nowhere and almost colliding with the car that was behind them. Rude fucker, began to blare his horn of the car for him to watch the road, that he almost caused an accident.

"**Go fuck yourself, cocksucker!"** Grant said irritably to the hostile driver, not in the mood for someone to give him lectures out of the blue. It was bad enough that his car had suddenly died in the middle of the street, and now he had to move near a parking area to not get the traffic into a jam.** "Just more headaches… what now?"** He answered Julie and asked what was happening, pulling the gear if his car and carefully opening the door once he found a parking space.** "Julie, could you help me to put the car in the parking area, please?"**

"**Sure thing, pa."** Julie replied, knowing it was an order, but one that he didn't tell her to do lightly. She knew too, the car had died all of a sudden, as if the battery had a short circuit, and now he would need to get it repaired. That sort of thing always seemed like it happened during either a busy workday, or a holiday or day off. Just their luck.

—

Julie had been leaning on the car, and had zipped her coat tightly around her body. There was a cold wind passing through the damn city which made her uncomfortable, inside the car with a heater was much better than freezing outside. It was almost as if Nature was pissed at her for flipping it off earlier on the road due to the snow on the ground. She didn't care, she still meant it - fuck you, cold weather! I'd rather be in Florida!

Grant had finished talking from his phone with a mechanic, and thankfully, there was one open, towards the northern point of the city, near Allegheny Station. They had just come from the north of the city, and now they would need to go back. Julie needed to check on a few things there too, but Grant would have been going more to the East before heading North again.

"**Well Julie, thankfully there is a mechanic available near the Allegheny Station. Sadly, I'll need to wait for the tow truck to come and take it there for a checkup. It might take a while."** Grant had said, looking slightly disappointed, with Julie sighing and trying to protect herself from the cold wind. **"Now, I know you were in a hurry to grab a few things too, so I'd like to know if you want to wait with me or would you like to go and check it first and then I'll meet up with you?"**

"**Hm, to be honest, pa, I'd rather do what I have to do and then we can meet each other there. If you don't mind, of course."** Julie said, thankful for her father to offer her a temporary solution but also pissed off at the fucking car for having died, as well as (partially) to her parents who should have seen this coming before. Of course, she wouldn't blame them, but they could have been more careful, damn it!

"**Sure, no problem, honey. I just don't want you getting lost or hurt somewhere. You have your cell charged, right?"** Grant asked, perhaps being the one most disappointed by all of this.

"**Yeah, pa, right here. Okay then, so I'll meet you there later on, okay?"** Julie said, checking her battery and seeing it was full enough. Her iPod needed recharging, however.

"**Alright, very good. Well, I'll meet you later then, okay? Remember I love you, Julie."** Grant had said, giving her an embrace before she parted.

"**Me too, pa."** Julie embraced him back, feeling strangely unnerved by his words. She didn't know why, but it felt like a farewell and that she would never see him again.

That wasn't true, of course, just that he had been annoyed by all of this, and because in his eyes, she was still six years old and needed someone to take her to wherever she needed to go. Classic parenting worries.

Julie then waved him goodbye and made her way towards the Gateway Station, a place close by which would shorten her trip towards her destination. On top of all, it would help her to battle this fucking irritating cold that the city was going through right now. It definitely was one of those weather patterns that happened and brought cold winds around where they went, and would only tend to get worse. Ugh, why couldn't she just hibernate and just wake up back in March or April?

Whatever, she should just stop complaining and keep on going. This walk would help. She should instead focus on the good weekend she would spend with her sister, probably a quiet and a good one. She missed her quite significantly, and the household wasn't the same without her big sis bossing her around. She knew it was for her well being, and she missed it too. She would also tell her all the new stuff she had been meaning to do, and would even tell her the good news that her grades had gone up ever since she decided to take school seriously.

Right once she got to Gateway Station's entrance, she felt the annoying wind again. Damn it! She hated that, especially how she felt with this wind ruffling at her. She would just board the damn train and get on with this crap. It was enough with how her dad's car died out of nowhere, and now she had to walk.

Once she got inside and bought her ticket, she felt the turnstiles clacking after she passed through them, recalling the thrill of sneaking in the queue of Devil's Flight back in Red River Park and finding an empty row of seats. She didn't want to think on such a place, because it would bring her bad memories, especially of her dead friend. She only wanted to think about good things right now.

Going down a flight of stairs, there were some football fans rustling and screwing around the damn platform. Apparently, there was gonna have a big game at the Heinz Field located next to the Allegheny Station, involving the Bruins and the Stars. She wished she could just have gotten in sooner and avoided them, but by the time they were getting on the platform, she had to get in with the line. Just her damn luck, she had to hold her breath to not fucking explode and get on with a fight with those cunts. Looking upwards, she saw a familiar shape, and could barely believe what she was seeing.

"**Oh my God, I can't believe this!"** She exclaimed. She gave the figure a warm hug, and it was none other than Wendy Christensen, her sister!

Wendy gave her sister a hug as well, but couldn't believe that it was such a coincidence had happened. Still, she was happy to see her, after three whole months!

Julie decided she wanted to sit down. Suddenly meeting her sister in these circumstances changed her mood completely, and she had a lot to talk about! It was a very strange coincidence, but once that Julie was happy about regardless.

"**Wait a minute, Wendy, we needed to get out."** Kimberly said, looking at her confused. Julie didn't understand why Wendy's friend was all like this.

"**Yeah, it can happen at any moment,"** Thomas added in, having one of the football hooligans bump into him and stare as if it was Thomas' fault, breaking their focus almost completely towards what they were worried about before.

"**Here, come on, we'll just go towards the next stop then anyway."** Kimberly said, feeling the appearance of this girl way too suspicious with all the things that were happening. And before Thomas could get on in a fight with someone. Not that he was that type, but a cop fighting a common citizen was a bad idea.

Wendy and Julie sat down on a vacant spot, with Kimberly and Thomas directly to the other.

"**I thought you weren't coming in until the afternoon?"** Wendy asked Julie, looking at how her sister had changed these last few months. She looked more mature and prettier this time, with a few highlights to her hair. Then again, Wendy had dyed her hair in a darker colour too. **"I remember mom saying you and dad having come here to Pittsburgh to do a few things. If I had known, I'd probably had taken a lift with you."**

"**I know! We would only be heading there around 3 P.M., but dad's car just dies out of nowhere, and he could only find one place to repair it, near Allegheny Station. And I was going to mail some letters and… well, buy a few things, but then this happened."** Julie answered her, showing it was purely a coincidence of fate that had brought the sisters together here. She didn't want to say she wanted to buy Wendy's birthday gift, too, it would be a surprise.

"**I don't like this… not one bit."** Kimberly said, under her breath and listening to their conversation. She was beginning to spot some signs too, that something was wrong.

"**Relax, Kim. I don't think this is a negative sign…"** Thomas said, and then decided to talk with Julie. **"Uh, excuse, um."**

"**Name's Julie, hello."** Julie said, greeting Wendy's friends and seeing her sister made an embarrassed face.

"**Sorry, I totally forgot to introduce you to my roommate and her boyfriend."** Wendy said, sheepishly and blushing slightly. **"This here is Kimberly Corman, my roommate, and this here is Thomas Burke, her boyfriend. They were here to make some company before they headed to New York to enjoy Thanksgiving with Thomas' family."**

"**Ah, pleasure to meet you! I'm Julie, Wendy's much cooler and more awesome sister."** Julie introduced herself, trying to sound cool and laid back, but it seemed both were worried about something. She thought it was with her, but she knew she had done nothing to them, when they both shook hands with her in order.

"**Don't worry, Julie, it's… I think I had a sense that you were coming now-"** Wendy had said, and was cut off mid sentence by the train getting shook down and the lights turning off for a few seconds, before coming back up. Kimberly and Thomas held one another, trying to find balance, with Julie doing the same. Wendy was frozen in place for a few seconds.

"**I was… I was feeling like I did that night,"** Wendy said, dead serious and looking concerned.

"**Wendy believes something will happen, now. It's as if it was a coincidence or too much 'in your face kind of thing' for things to happen. Don't get me wrong, Julie, it's because we went through the same thing as you did, and one of Death's many artifices is to make coincidences seem like they are happening, or deja-vus."** Kimberly said, looking much like her sister.

Some of the passengers looked at Kimberly as if she was on crack, but not Julie. And she didn't think Kimberly was being rude to her, much to the contrary—she knew exactly why they were worried—Death's design.

"**No, no don't worry guys, it's over!"** Julie said kindly to both Kimberly and Wendy. **"You, me and Kevin went through a thousand and one scenarios. Ian was gonna cause Wendy's death, she intervened, and it skipped us."** Julie said to all of them, turning to her sister now, certain of what she was saying. She struggled to see her sister like this, and didn't want to see her all worried like that. But she had it in her to know this wouldn't happen again.

Along the train tracks up ahead, the rodent kept enjoying her sugary treat. The train track's safety mechanism automatically switched its tracks for the train track to realign according to the Train 081's trajectory, with an electric _BUZZ_ that switched a LED light from red to green. The trains on the other said would have to wait until this one passed through now, safely allowing Train 081 to pass on to its final destination. However, the exposed wires close to the rat's body could potentially come in contact with her, causing a short circuit to the entire system and cause a mechanical failure.

"**Look, I'm not worried,"** Julie said, trying to calm down her sister and her friends once more. **"I ran into Kevin at his home, he's not worried. And if I were you, until something happens to me and then Kevin, you got NOTHING to worry about. Also, remember what I told you? 'Once Death comes, I'm gonna kick it's ass', remember?"**

Wendy chuckled at her sister's good humour in such a moment that she was afraid. It was good and it did help reassure her. Julie always seemed to have some good sense in what to say at the most dire moments, bringing some humour and relief to the whole thing.

"**Heh… you're right sis, you truly are,"** Wendy said, her frown having reverted back to a smile. **"You know how I am, a control freak, I guess I was just so afraid… anyway, we're almost to the next stop, right?"**

"**I'm glad you are. And we are! I'm sure dad will be there very soon and we can all come back home together."** Julie replied, smiling at her sister, who would keep company to her while their father got his vehicle repaired.

Kimberly and Thomas seemed to be a bit more relieved now as well, that the train was so close to the end. It was unlikely an accident would have happened at this point, right?

Wendy suddenly got an expression that seemed as if she had life drained from her, with her skin turning pale. Julie turned around to see what she was looking at, and she too could barely believe it: it was Kevin Fisher! Her sister's boyfriend, listening to music inside the train this whole time. How the hell hasn't any of them spotted him during this whole time?

"**Kevin…?"** Wendy said, her worries suddenly back to her as if she had gotten a punch in her gut. She got up and went towards him, with Julie, Kimberly and Thomas following her.

Kevin was distracted, only to turn around as if he had heard her voice, and was amazed to see both Wendy and Julie inside the train!

"**Julie, Wendy!"** Kevin said, standing up and moving towards Wendy as well. **"Hey baby, what are the chances we'd meet up in here?"** he went on, leaning in to give her a kiss on the mouth.

She gave him a kiss as well, but didn't seem all that relieved. In fact, she was just as worried as before. **"Kevin… baby, how long have you… been on this train?"** she asked him, softly but with a fearful tone of dread.

Things had gotten serious now.

* * *

Here is Julie Christensen's POV of the last five months ever since what happened at the Tri-Centennial, and more signs of the train accident.

I decided to give a deeper insight into Julie, since she (alongside Perry) were the only characters that didn't have their backstories explored too well. Of course, Julie is Wendy's sister, but we never get much insight other than she is more social and immature.

As for Perry, I thought about something cool for her, and hopefully you like it.

Next is Kevin's POV.


	4. Chapter 26: Kevin's POV

**TWENTY-SIX**

Kevin Fisher was feeling great, probably better than ever before. It was curious at first, but after long days of work, this week off he got from his job made him feel completely reinvigorated. It wasn't just the job, but also his university piling up on top of everything, with midterms coming up. Mixing up responsibilities from his new job on top of his classes and essays made Kevin think he would go crazy with all of this, at first at least. He barely had time to go out, play minor league football with his new friends, use his fake ID to get some booze with them afterwards and slack around and enjoy life for these next four years.

But truth had to be told, he felt much better like this. Kevin wouldn't feel one bit comfortable being like his former self after everything that had happened. It amazed and also scared him slightly how everything had changed back then with all the freaky shit at Red River Adventure Park. He was a different man, whenever he accepted that or not. He just wouldn't be able to go back to his former self, even if he tried hard to do it.

Before all this, Kevin was a joker and a prankster. He didn't think much about life or where it would take him, and he simply had found no need to do so. That is, he had his best friend and a brother pretty much who would go anywhere with him, and together they could probably take the world if they wished. He was serious with his plan to move to UNLV to make in to the NFL, and try to be a football star with a steady career, mostly because that would involve, in his own way, taking control of his life and steering it into a path where he would have his own challenges and victories. Even if he would be away from home and his other friends at school, he would be away in life, facing it head on and showing it he got what it took to survive.

Deep inside, he knew some of these things made him have his own doubts. What if he had failed? What if Jason had changed his mind and decided to find something more meaningful and not too daring? What if he had lost it all and had to come back home, and face his father and his lectures about how he had told him this wasn't worth it, and how it would be time for him to build a proper work ethic already and grow some responsibility?

All these things had been piling up on his head in his senior year. Jason growing closer to Wendy, his relationship with Carrie not working out too well, the prospect of leaving McKinley for UNLV or probably another college and get a degree, find a job (since his father already told him he wouldn't send allowances to him, that it was long past due for him to take reins of his life, as he should have been when he was 14), and take life more seriously in overall. If Kevin really thought about all of this, his head would probably explode and he would have a breakdown, probably showing everyone his own insecurities and uncertainties about his own life and how he would be doing things. It was, for lack of a better term, a prospect of dying.

It sounded extreme, but that's how he had felt. Firstly, because there were the matters from his own family: his father telling him what to do, telling him to follow his example or of his younger brother Adam. Adam had been working ever since January 2004, when he turned 14, and he was so much like his father it sometimes pissed him off, bossing around his younger and two older brothers. It was all thanks to his mother that he had gotten lucky and found no need to get a job at least until he finished high school. His father was very displeased with all of this, saying life wouldn't give two cents of a damn if he had been studying or not, and that he would need to put up with things which were unfair, and only then he would be stronger and ready for new challenges. Kevin didn't need to think twice that the whole UNLV thing made his dad so furious he almost thought he would be disowned, but his father relented and then said to him it was his own life, but he shouldn't count on him for help. His mother and younger brother Ryan later had told him he could always count on them for anything, which Kevin was really grateful. He knew his mother considered him "mama's boy" secretly enough, and deep down Kevin thought his dad knew that. His father too, seemed to harbour his own feelings for Kevin, because after all, he had been his first son. It hurt to consider that Kent Fisher expected more of him, and the son who would make him proud would have been only Adam Fisher, who was no-nonsense, hardworking and all serious exactly like him. Hart was slightly rebellious like Kevin (and funnily enough, both siblings argued a lot and had a tumultuous relationship), while Ryan was still building up his own character, but showing himself to be similar to Kevin in looks, but to Adam in character, just slightly more sociable. It was unnecessary to say that, despite all this, Kevin loved his family dearly.

Secondly, it involved matters with his own friends and girlfriend: Jason Wise, his best friend, seemed to grow slightly more distant from him each day it passed on the school. Kevin had clinged to more and more bad jokes and immature things to see if he could salvage the happier times with his friend back when they were closer. At that point, Kevin didn't know Wendy that well, but he couldn't find himself to hate her for it. Jason recognized Kevin's worth as well as Wendy's own, but he seemed to get closer and closer to her each day it passed. With that, Kevin felt each time more and more clingy towards Carrie and his other friends, like Craig Malinowski, Edward Sanders, Trent Langley, Oswald Vickers, and many others. With his friends he tried his best to balance it, because with the callow jocks they were (more liike Lewis Romero and less like Jason Wise), they'd probably make fun of him or call him gay all the fucking time. It wasn't that he felt insecure being called like that, but it was the sheer amount of immaturity coming from them. Carrie and Jason were the only sane ones around his group of friends, and he knew he could only open himself up to either one of them whatever were the things in his mind. Sadly, with the prospect of his last year in high school ending and his separation from Carrie and very possible separation from Jason as well, he felt as lost as ever. What's worse, Wendy had told him a few months before September that Jason did plan to find a place closer to Wendy, while Carrie planned to break up with him eventually, and that made him feel crushed inside. He knew Wendy said that to be truthful to him, and she was holding that information because of all the freaky shit that had been happening to them during that spring, and he thanked her for giving that information only when the time was right.

And what a freaky shit that was. Kevin couldn't still believe he had made it safely out from all that had happened to him five months ago. He and Wendy had only managed to save themselves and Julie, with all the others having perished in the process. They did try their best, of course, wanting to save everyone from something that sounded so absurd as "Death is coming after you", but many of them just flat out ignored or made fun of them. Especially that prick McKinley… Kevin had been to his funeral, seeing the rest of the McKinley family and especially his father, Troy McKinley looking desolate. Ungrateful prick, Ian didn't deserve the family he had. On top of being an asshole to almost everyone on the planet, his family did what they thought they could do to bring a sense of ethics and responsibility, and he had squandered it all. Kevin was mostly indifferent to that freak, but once he began to talk shit and threaten Wendy only because he thought that she had killed Erin Ulmer, Kevin had lost his patience entirely with that guy. Good riddance.

Still, Kevin felt some guilt on not having saved them all, especially Jason and Carrie. They would have been the first in Death's list, no doubt, but if they had been way quicker they could have saved their friends, but how would their lives be affected by it all? Kevin knew how much giving Death the slip had changed him (or heck, someone like Julie even!), but how would have Jason and Carrie have changed with it? Could Jason had become someone overprotective of Wendy and mistrustful of someone like Kevin? Would Carrie have become someone afraid of everything and perhaps paranoid to the point of insanity? Kevin didn't know, and he knew it wouldn't do any good to think a lot about it.

Perhaps the only good thing was how Kevin and Wendy were drawn closer in between all of this. Kevin would have never touched Wendy while Jason was alive, of course, neither was Wendy his type of girl, but the whole calamity of the horrors in Death and grief had brought them together, and what was at first a duo of two schoolmates bound by determination had blossomed into a relationship.

It all sounded so poetic and silly, considering all those dramatic soap operas that Kevin seldom saw his mother watch them, but he was truthful to everything he had promised himself ever since he found new meaning in life. He would protect and be with Wendy even with both of them being far away, and faithful as well. He recalled how Carrie wanted to break up with him because of his whole UNLV adventure, but the truth was that he did plan to marry her and find a way to bring her closer. That opportunity was now gone, but he knew he wouldn't fail with Wendy, at the slightest. They were bound by what happened to them, and they knew they couldn't fail or let one another down in a moment of need.

Thinking about Wendy made Kevin feel nostalgic, even if it had been merely a few months ago that they had been together. It was a fun summer, and Kevin was glad how he had been able to calm Wendy down from her worries about the list starting over at any point. Truth be told, he did worry as well about it, but he had to be realistic and strong about it. Wendy needed someone beside her that would grant her strength and confidence to be able to go through all this. And Kevin had done what he could—brought her to the movies, went for a walk in the park, drove around for a snack in town, even invited her to watch him play at a local game. It wasn't much, but Kevin knew he was doing as he could.

"**You know, I think I'm starting to enjoy this more than I thought."** Wendy had said, when they were together, driving towards fast food restaurant to get a snack one day. It gave them both the creeps of being stuck in a drive-thru, so this time they would get in and eat at the establishment instead. And no Butchie Burgers this time. It would be a professional steak with onion rings, french fries and ice cream for dessert. Kevin had saved enough money from his summer job, and he wanted Wendy to enjoy life.

"**I knew you'd liked it Wendy. Plus, this is better than a fast food, it is an authentic lunch. You should be enjoying your life more!"** Kevin had replied, being sincere. He had thought Wendy should be enjoying life and letting go of worries.

"**So… now you are the one in control, right? I never expected you to be all like that, Kevin."** Wendy had replied, in more amiable and amused tone rather than accusing him. She had felt better with his presence in specific, it felt like he and her sister Julie were probably the only ones who understood one another.

"**Baby, I know how much you worry about things. I figured I'd bring you somewhere we could have some fun, spend time together. After all, soon enough your classes will begin again at Yale, and I'll be off to University of Pittsburgh, while also looking for a job."** Kevin had said, softly, but slightly melancholically with the prospect of being separated from her. It had been a GREAT summer, he had to admit. **"I just want to make sure we stay together as much as possible before we go to different places, and only meet up with each other again during Christmas or something."**

"**I understand, and I really appreciate too, Kevin,"** Wendy had said, suddenly blushing deeply at what he had said. She had no idea why, but that made her feel special. She had someone who cared and understood her better than she did, probably, as well as someone who was willing to go to lengths and make sure she was okay. Nothing too clingy, definitely, but someone who was protective and wanted her wellbeing.

"**So why are you worrying about exactly, baby?"** Kevin had asked, inviting her to share her woes and open up to him. She had that freedom, after all.

"**It's just… well, I'm a bit ashamed to admit, but these past few months I have been with you, Kevin, I have grown accustomed to your presence and protection… you know?"** Wendy had answered, partially ashamed of just admitting this now and being slow in regards to show her deeper feelings for others. Something she really disliked and wanted to improve upon, and especially wanted to make it right with Kevin. **"I just don't want to feel like I'll fail with you like I failed with Jason or any other survivors. I really am afraid of what's going to happen with us being separated, about this whole Death thing. I'm still worried, who of us is next? What will it happen if I lose both Julie and you, and oh God… I can't even think about it…"** Wendy had went on, tears building up on her eyes and streaming down over her face, and Kevin had put his chair closer and embraced her.

Damn, this thing would end up killing her with worry, he thought. It would have been a sick and twisted fate which would do this to her, and would leave him and Julie together to save themselves. Kevin couldn't blame Wendy for that, it was their lives after all. But she had to try to live as well, this whole death thing would end up killing her.

"**Shhh, shhh, it's okay baby. Let it all out… I'm here."** Kevin had whispered, slightly embarrassed but totally comprehensive of her. He too was afraid of what could happen to them in case Death suddenly came back, and he even went online to search for things like Death suddenly coming back a few months later, but came in empty. But he was relatively confident that this sort of thing wouldn't happen, and they had won. But still, he wanted to give Wendy some sort of reassurance.

"**I wish it were okay, baby… Why can't this thing leave us be? Why does it have to try and scare us into some false sense of security and then strike when we least expect it? Why can't it just let us live?"** Wendy had said, in tears. She had been holding them up for quite some time ever since what happened at the Tri-Centennial, and needed to let it all out. She needed to be strong for her sister Julie (even if the opposite was proved to be the case, it was Julie who had been reassuring her), but she didn't want to be emotionally dependant to Kevin. Heck, they were both having a great time, but she suddenly had a breakdown in the middle of their romantic afternoon. Why did she have to be so weak, when she was doing so well?

"**Wednesday, listen."** Kevin had begun, looking deeply at her eyes, and sounding confident and centered in his goal. **"We won't let anything happen to us, or to you, you understand? I told you, protecting you is all I have left, and I stand by this. I won't let anything happen to me, to you or to Julie. We will find a way to beat this, and you'll see, we all will be safe in the end. We weren't born losers, Wendy! We are here for a purpose."** Kevin had said to her, in parts to make her quit with her insecurity over death (which was justifiable), as well as to make her assured that they would beat it. And he was certain they would go through this, together. He believed it, and he saw that as the first half of the battle.

Wendy had listened to him, but she made sure she had truly understood everything. After all, she didn't have any more visions. The deathly presence that surrounded her had been gone after a few days too, that chill wind that came out of nowhere. So why had she been afraid? She guessed it was because all the emotions that had again been bottled had managed to spill over, and here she was, afraid for something that could have very well been gone forever.

"**I'll be here for you, Wendy. Geographical distances aside, we will be able to get into contact with one another. Here,"** Kevin had said, showing Wendy a smaller and simpler cell phone. Wendy had stood up again, and wiped her tears (with Kevin helping her). **"This cell phone I got exactly for that use. It's a burner phone, which I'll always have it recharged and ready for use in case anything happens. I bought one for Julie and one for you, which I'll give it to you once we head to my home, but it's important that you know we'll have our own things planned. We can't give up on life and let paranoia take over, we gotta be ready as well!"**

Wendy had seen the phone, and even saw the other similar one that Kevin had bought. It was one of those simple small phones that had been produced in the last decade, for cases of extreme urgency only. Wendy had recalled how her grandmother had one of these before her death, and how she struggled to use them. Kevin's plan had been a good one, even if they needed to make sure how things would go or would be in a case of extreme urgency or something like that.

"**In case anything happens, and I do mean ANYTHING, we'll call one another and find a way to meet up with all of us three and watch out for signs that can lead to our death. I have read on the internet that anyone is capable of recognizing these signs if they pay close attention, so we should be watchful over anything, and warn others in time. You understand?"** Kevin had said, sadly with a bit more force to his voice than he intended to at that moment, but it was to make Wendy snap out of that state she was on. A way to make her see reason, as well as a way to show her how it was possible for other people to save themselves should their turn come.

Wendy had nodded, but still seemed confused about his plan. **"Right, baby… but how will we do such things in case we are asleep, or busy during an exam, or anything in general?"** Wendy had asked, feeling stronger and ready to fight, but still confused about other things. **"For all we know, the information you read could be part of a legend instead of actually being true. So… we really need to be careful, you know what I mean?"**

"**I do, Wendy, but like I have said, I have a plan to get us through this. We'll find a way, and we too will find a way to make this stop in due time. That thing that the fucker Ian had said isn't true, I know of it. But there must be something, at least something which will make Death give up and leave us alone. We'll find a way to do so, and we'll then put this behind us!"** Kevin had said. He didn't want to admit, but she had slightly tipped his mood off at that moment, having focused too much over death and too little over what he was trying to do for them. But then again, that could have easily fucked up over anyone who wasn't ready for this, so he did his best to have patience towards her.

"**Well… this could be true. I guess we'll have to wait and see what the future will bring to us."** Wendy had said, putting her hand over Kevin's and squeezed it. She had gotten over her rant, but felt embarrassed for being all moody on their day out. **"I'm sorry about it, baby, I really do. I want you to know that…"**

"**Don't worry babe. We all have our moments where we need help. Like I said, I'm here for you and I'll help you however I can."** Kevin had said, squeezing her hand back and giving her a warm smile. He couldn't be pissed off at her, after all. She meant almost everything to him, after all, how could he be angry at her? He just wished she could find good things in life more often.

"**Thanks again, Kevin. Really, you mean a lot to me."** Wendy had said, and gave him a warm hug, with Kevin returning the hug back at her. He knew it was a sincere hug, because he too wanted her to feel better.

The rest of their days had gone without much happening ever since then, with Kevin and Wendy finding good things to talk about, as well as planning where they would take their lives. They even managed to have Julie join in to hang out with them, with Kevin being surprised at first at her new boyfriend: his own brother, Hart.

Kevin didn't know how a fun and upbeat girl could hang out with such a boring guy like his brother. It had been awkward for them both to meet one another, deciding between either ratting out some information on the other sibling's misdeeds to their father, or just letting it go and pretend they were having fun. In the end, both couples had a great time, and none of them hear any lecture from their father.

Kevin considered for a moment when Wendy called Julie "an idiot" that fateful night they were at Red River, when he had said how Julie was awesome. Perhaps Wendy could have said how "awesome" Hart was compared to Kevin's own opinion of his own brother, but the most likely thing Wendy would have said is that Hart resembles a Frank Cheek with the personality of a Lewis Romero, because sometimes that's what his brother looked like. A guy who thought he was a badass, but having the profile of a chicken. Classic narcissistic complex.

Despite this, Kevin recalled how he probably had his best night in the year so far—Wendy had decided that they should go ahead and do it. At first he couldn't believe it, Wendy was asking him if he wanted to have sex, considering all that happened with Jason and Red River. Her idea was that they would be a few months away from one another, and this could be an interesting way to say "take care, until we meet again" for a while.

"**Are you sure you want to do it, Wendy?"** Kevin had asked her, making sure she had truly willing to do.

"**I am, baby. I truly am. I know the time for us to begin college is coming, and I don't want to be separated from you until I can feel how it is to do it. I hope you don't mind too, just like Jason didn't."** Wendy had answered, feeling slightly shy but certain that she was willing to do so. She seemed confused and amused how the same thing had occurred twice, with her asking Jason not long ago, and now asking Kevin.

"**I would never mind baby. I just want to be sure you are ready too. After all, with what happened and everything… Are you really sure?"** Kevin had asked, making sure she was truly up for it.

"**I really am, Kevin. I want to do it, because you are the person who is closest to me, and also the person who I ended up learning how to love."** Wendy had said, having kissed him passionately and lovingly.

And in the end, they did have sex. It had been so different from the few times Kevin had done it with Carrie, which Wendy falsely assumed that Kevin was an expert on, but it was pretty damn good regardless. Kevin had been feeling a bit afraid of hurting her at first, so he did take it easy while doing it with her compared to how he had done it with Carrie. It was quite evident that she had enjoyed it a lot, feeling it for the first time, and that had been great for Kevin as well.

He made sure he wouldn't do it inside her, as he didn't want the responsibilities of being a father just yet, or to be berated by his own father for his irresponsibility. Perhaps, for the first time, Wendy would have been as furious with him compared to his own dad. Regardless, she did enjoy and seemed relieved for having done it.

"**It really is fun, wow! I can't believe it!"** Wendy had said, a few moments after they both had their orgasm. She seemed like a totally different person, compared to those days which she was worried with Death coming back, and it was good to see her enjoy life too.

"**What did I tell you, baby? Definitely much more fun than riding a rollercoaster for sure, but all the same, great."** Kevin had said, looking at her. They both started to laugh shortly afterwards, both seemingly amazed at similar things.

"**You know, baby, I never expected it would go like this!"** Wendy had said, confessing in a hearty and good humored tone. She truly seemed happy.

"**Neither did I. But you know, I'm really happy about it!"** Kevin had said, turning around to face Wendy. **"These past three months have been a mix of dread, confusion, hope, happiness and satisfaction. I'm still amazed at how diverse my emotions have been."**

"**I think exactly the same, Kevin!"** Wendy had said, turning around to face Kevin, and reflexively covering her breasts, unsure why she had done it either. **"I always thought it would have been with Jay, but… ever since these last few months have passed, it is as if life took a different path altogether. And you know, I'm glad it was with you."**

"**Oh yeah? How did it feel doing it in your first time with someone who you don't even like being with?"** Kevin had said, jokingly, to throw at her her own words that she had given him.

"**You dork~ It actually felt well. I mean, you have much more experience than me, but I did like it a lot. You mean a great deal for me, and it was very good to share this close moment with you, Kevin."** Wendy had told him, looking relaxed and comfortable.

"**You know, it may sound funny, but me and Carrie, we didn't do it many times."** Kevin said, giving Wendy a relaxed smile and running his hand over her delicate face. **"With you, however, it was totally a different thing. More interesting and definitely more… exotic?"**

"**Exotic, baby? What do you mean?"** Wendy had asked, a sly hint of a smile at her face.

"**Well, you have a different body time compared to Carrie, and it was interesting to see the difference. And I'm pretty happy too, it was definitely more fun than I had thought it would go."** Kevin had explained himself.

"**Oh."** Wendy had said, accepting that without any other objections. **"Like an exotic restaurant that you end up liking the food, right?"**

"**Absolutely."** Kevin had said, leaning in to kiss her. **"I love you so much, Wendy. I make me feel complete."**

Wendy leaned in to kiss Kevin as well. **"And you make me feel alive and happy, Kevin. Thank you~"**

That had definitely been the best night Kevin had the entire year, and he was already missing Wendy so badly. He would definitely try to meet up with her this Thanksgiving, as he too would be returning to the town of McKinley to celebrate it with his own family and tell more about his job and training.

It was thanks to all that had happened that Kevin finally decided what he wanted to do in his life. He thought seriously about majors and many areas in academy, but he decided to settle for a major in Criminal Justice. His sheriff training that he had been doing all summer had given him enough credit to compensate for his relatively low scores on his SATs, and guaranteed him a pretty sweet deal in University of Pittsburgh, with partial scholarship.

To his surprise, his father had received the news of his scholarship in a positive manner, as well as the career that he had chosen. Law Enforcement in general and Military and Defense had been areas that Kent Fisher truly admired, having wanted to be a marine when he was young. He did own a few firearms and took lessons in firing ranges, but it was more of a hobby rather than a professional thing.

"**That's a good choice for a career. I think you'll do well in it, son."** his dad had told him once he brought in the news.

He truly did seem proud once he said that, probably one of the only times in his life where he would have been proud of anything.

To Kevin's surprise, the two cops, who he later learned their names were Dominic Polanski and Jesse Clark were going to be his supervisors, overseen by Chief Henry Firebaugh of McKinley's Police Department. And there was even that other guy that had chided Wendy in Red River, Anders Colquitt as one of his classmates, still a rude asshole like before. Kevin didn't want to become a small town cop, for sure, but he also didn't trust these two. Of course, he and Wendy had been cleared of any and all suspicion after the investigations regarding the strange deaths, but still Kevin didn't want to have anything to do with them.

Still, he managed to progress through his program with a surprising excellence in it, and had been awarded his scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh. Chief Firebaugh seemed to be the one most excited about all this, probably wanting to come up with a promotion for him to be part of the team once he finished his degree, but Kevin had other plans. His promotion made Colquitt fuming with rage, as he had a satisfactory, but a rather average score.

He wanted to find new places, meet different people, and build his own reputation and future with blood, sweat and tears. And even if it this would have killed him, he would come back and try again.

—

Once Kevin was out of McKinley, away from Wendy and his family, he felt that he was on his own. He knew he had it in him to be a great professional and that he was ready for life. That, of course, wasn't completely true, but wasn't completely false either.

Kevin had been very well capable of adapting himself to the college routine and making new friends and meeting new people. He had been able to balance his physical training well, to keep up his good shape and always be stronger. After all, he needed to be fit for this job, and fattening up or thinning up wouldn't ever do him any good.

His new friends were George Newman, Clyde Keller, David Jones and William Dawson. William and Clyde were the smarter ones, while George and David reminded Kevin a lot how he used to be back then. They were all good people and fun to be around, but some seemed more conscious than others about what they wanted for their own lives.

It felt strange for Kevin to consider this, since William and Clyde were already in their mid 30s while George and David were in his same age, but Kevin saw himself a lot on the latter two. It was almost as if they had all studied together and decided to tackle the same major because they had no idea what else to do in their lives, while William and Clyde already spoke of woes in love life, marriage and even a son and difficulties with divorce..

This truly made him feel good, deep inside, considering so many people in his age range had no idea what to do with their lives, so they just went ahead to do the first thing that came up on a news bulletin or something of the kind.

Still, all of them seemed capable enough to do what it took them to get closer and closer to their degree. They all had to find jobs to take in when they did their classes, so life was pretty rough for them. It was almost as if sheriff training was an open air boot camp for civilians wishing to take part in the law.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kevin, George and David had made it to the university's team, on a freshman roster. Kevin still had a pang of guilt of Jason not being there with him, as the best friends could have had a great experience there together. Kevin thought Jason could have been content enough on being a cop, much like how he had been investing in his major.

As the college term passed by, the Thanksgiving holiday had snuck up on them. It almost seemed impossible, as they began the term back in August, and it was already late November, almost time for Christmas and New Years.

Freshmen were allowed to take some days off compared to veteran students, and Kevin thought about that as the perfect opportunity to do two things: visit his family for Thanksgiving, and give a special present for Wendy.

He even met up with Julie a few days before to set up a special surprise to Wendy, which would have involved an enormous cake, as well as a brand new cell phone. Kevin was sure she would have liked it, and it had been an awesome idea that Julie had come up with. He had been right, Julie knew how to get people to like her, as she had a knack for setting up cool ideas for friends and others whom she liked. In the end, Kevin had bought a brand new phone, while Julie and her mother Sophie had decided to bake the cake.

On the day of Thanksgiving day, Kevin had decided he would do a chronogram of his own activities. In the morning, he would go in and watch the game of the Stars vs the Bruins. Later on, he would go back to McKinley and have lunch with his family, and later on he would meet up with Wendy. It was perfect: it was organized, it was well set up, and he found time to distract himself with a big match in Superbowl.

He really needed that, he was getting burnout from his tasks at the university, and the game would be a great way to cheer for the Stars, who would definitely kick those Bruins' asses, despite the Bruins fans thinking otherwise.

Kevin left the campus early on, sadly his friends didn't feel much in the mood to watch a game during Thanksgiving. Willaim and Clyde would stay in the campus, studying, and George and David had gone back to their families' homes in around the Greater Pittsburgh, as they lived close by. As Kevin stepped outside, he felt the chill of late fall get through him, with large intensity thanks to the Nor'easter that was around. Walking on this cold air and over the crunchy snow didn't bother Kevin one bit, he was indifferent cold and hot and how it affected him. If anything, this cold weather was interesting, breaking up with the summer and hot temperatures from the rest of the year.

Kevin would get to Heinz Field through the subway, as it would help to not need him waste too much money with a taxi or a bus. He still needed to save money for his own things, and Wendy's gift didn't help in that regard. Not that it bothered him, but he knew he had to take it easy. He would board a train in Steel Plaza, and would get out in Allegheny Station, which was very close to the stadium.

His trip was uneventful, if anything, it was good for him to consider all the crazy shit he had gone through, with most of the crazy things have happened this year. He was a survivor, and he knew it. If he could, he would help anyone who would be in need. And he would do it because of his sense of adventure and protection, not because he wanted to earn a lot of money or status. He would do it because it would be the right thing to do.

For a moment, Kevin thought how would Jason fit as a sheriff or a law enforcer. Kevin was burlier and stronger than his late friend, but it could be that Jason could be better in some other way. Thinking about him made him miss how Jason wasn't seeing any of this. They could be there, together, taking their major in law and being more responsible in their lives in general.

But Kevin couldn't think about Jason, not now at least. It would just tear scabs around his heart and made him miss his friend more than he should right now. Especially now, on a holiday of giving thanks to those who had built this country.

Clearing his mind of bad thoughts, once he got to Steel Plaza and admired the construction around it, he made his way through the cold hallways of the subway. It was impressive how everything looked dark and scary, as if the subway was an "underworld" of sorts, a place of secrecy and of people who wanted to be hidden from the world and the rest of the society. The cold weather helped in that regard, and Kevin couldn't help but to feel some deja-vu as he crossed the turnstiles towards the platform. This was way too similar to that night in Red River, when Wendy had the premonition. But then again, it was over, and he kept both his cell phone and his burner phone with him at all times, in case something happened. There was no need to be afraid.

Kevin made his way around the platform, waiting for a train to appear, as he decided to pick up his iPod and listen to some music. Damn, why hasn't he done that before, on his way here? He had prepared a special playlist for this occasion, and he sure was in the mood to jam to some tunes. Turning it on, placing his earbuds on his ears and being glad the battery said "_100%_", he decided to begin the list with some Eminem. He wasn't a fan of rap, but Eminem had some great songs in his list.

Once the train arrived, Kevin made his way to the seat, seeing the movement of people that exited the train and who also wanted to get it. He'd better get a seat, and his trip would have been perfect.

Score, an entire seat available! He quickly got in and sit comfortably next to the train's emergency break switch. Now all he had to do was wait until the train reached its final destination.

—

The train was close to Allegheny Station, as Kevin kept listening to his playlist. He felt something caught his attention. He thought it was a figure staring at him with the intention of mugging him for his devices, and would show a very nasty trick to the assailant. Once he heard the familiar voice, however, his day seemed to have brightened instantly.

"**Julie, Wendy!"** Kevin said, standing up and moving towards Wendy as well. **"Hey baby, what are the chances we'd meet up in here?"** he went on, leaning in to give her a kiss on the mouth.

She gave him a kiss as well, but didn't seem all that relieved. In fact, she was just as worried as before. **"Kevin… baby, how long have you… been on this train?"** she asked him, softly but with a fearful tone of dread.

"**Well, ever since I left the university. It's close by Steel Plaza, and I'm heading towards Heinz Field to check up the game."** Kevin said, slightly confused on why Wendy looked so freaked out, the same way as she did on that night at Red River. He noticed the other two people who were with her, and greeted them **"Kevin Fisher, I'm her boyfriend. And you are?"**

"**Kimberly Corman. This is Thomas Burke. We need to leave this train, now!"** The brunette woman said, both her and her companion looking almost as scared as Wendy was.

"**What's wrong? Are… you okay, baby?"** Kevin said, looking towards Wendy. His face turning into a frown and with sudden concern, the same as he could see with Julie.

On the train tracks, the rodent kept on chewing the chocolate bar, however, the animal put it's face too close to the exposed wires, completing the circuit. A loud jolt and a _ZAP_ brightened up the tunnel for a flash of a second, killing the rodent with the incredible high voltage contained inside those wires and the entire train system. The switch lock mechanism understood that as command to switch on the track again, realigning it to its previous state.

The train was in sight. It was too late to use the handbrake, and it would derail upon contact with the unaligned tracks.

A catastrofe would soon happen.

* * *

Here is Kevin Fisher's POV of the last five months ever since what happened at the Tri-Centennial, and accident that will soon happen.

Kevin was the most fun POV to do in the end, and I feel like he was one of the more complex characters in Final Destination 3.

Next is the train crash.


	5. Chapter 27: The Train Accident

**TWENTY-SEVEN**

The lights inside the train began to fail, all of a sudden. On top of that, the left side wheel had driven over the unaligned tracks, causing them to go off balance and begin a process of derailment. All the passengers inside the train felt each of their cars to shake violently, causing a reverb effect—from the front towards the back of the train—which weakened each individual car's latches that held them together.

Upon feeling the shock, Wendy quickly held her hands together with Julie and Kevin. If this train was going to derail, she wouldn't let any of them go. Thomas protectively held Kimberly, and both knew what they had to do in order to hopefully survive.

**"Okay! We need to watch out for one another. Don't let anyone get separated, and if you see any sign of danger, just help the other person out of the way!"** yelled Thomas, trying to get the others' attention, against the deafening sound of creaking metal.

As the train moved forward, it began to scratch against the tunnel's walls, dealigning and weakening the wheel axel further. The wheels amazingly managed to get the train to keep moving forward, and also throwing everyone off balance. Some of the passengers fell, hitting their faces hard against the floor, others bumping against the train's doors, and even sent others flying around.

Wendy had lost her balance together with her sister, and Kevin was thrown towards the back car door. Julie fell on the floor, not causing any major injury, while Wendy was sent towards one of the train's windows, bumping her head against it and making it crack. Her vision was partially blurred, and she was struggling to move. Kimberly smashed her back against one of the support beams, and Thomas surprisingly managed to keep his balance.

While the train kept moving forward, showering the tunnel with sparks as the guide wheels couldn't keep up with the speed, Julie tried getting up, only to be knocked off balance together with another passenger, and together they both ended up going to the back of the car. Kevin tried catching her, but he too was knocked off balance sideways. As the train continued to bump, scratch and send thousands of sparks against the inner walls, the weakened latches couldn't hold the individual cars together any longer, weakening the guide wheels and the axel structure further. Some of the train cars completely dislodged and stopped abruptly, others lost control and went towards the tunnel's girders, smashing them and crunching the train as if it was made of cheap tin. The train's outer walls were getting weakened too as it further bumped and scratched against the tunnels.

The car which Wendy and her friends were completely bumped to the other side it was facing, and inertia caused most of the passengers who couldn't hold onto something to fall to the other way. Kimberly and Kevin being one of them.

Julie then managed to get up, and she could see she was having difficulty breathing all of a sudden. She was scared shitless, and noticed it was her heart. Shit, this time she hadn't forgotten to bring in her meds, but where were they? They must have fallen off and wandered off alongside those oranges that had fallen over from an old lady's handbag, that had been sitting on the other side, but was now struggling to find balance just like everyone else.

She wasn't prepared to see what she had just seen: one of the cars had spun out of control and was now facing the other trains, in a serious risk of being crashed into due to its position, with screaming passengers pleading for help.

To make things worse—she was inside the car about to smash the other unaligned one.

Inevitably, their car t-boned and dragged the loose car towards a group of girders, sending a shockwave to everyone in both cars. With the speed and the strength of their car was heading, plus the damage the tunnel's walls had done to the train previously, it was enough to smash through the loosened car as if the train was made from a cheap tin and aluminum, the impact sending flying pieces of sharp metal, glass, blood and human remains towards all sides, as well as showering everyone with hot sparks.

Julie and a few others shrieked in panic, as the section she was in flared up with a burning heat of sparks. She was amazed her heart hadn't given in yet, as she was sure she would probably die of being scared rather than being hit by any of this. If she survived… Oh boy, she'd have a funny story to tell her mother!

Kevin had seen the gore and carnage as their car smashed through the opposing one, and was in fright. Damn it! It was supposed to be over! He couldn't believe this train had been fine up until now! His mind shifted into overdrive—he needed to save Wendy and Julie, FAST. He saw that Wendy was being helped by that roommate of hers, Kimberly, while the other guy was closest to Julie.

Wendy could barely believe it. She had been right, this train was about to crash! Why didn't she just leave when she could? She could have obviously told Kimberly and Thomas to take another train and do something else than risk death. But now she was here, about to die because of that stupid mistake.

Ted had been sent flying once the train shook again, and could feel a sharp pain all of a sudden once he smashed his back against the benches. He didn't know if he had broken his back, but shit that had hurt like hell! It was very likely he had severely injured himself.

Bludworth was trying his best to stop the train, but nothing came of it. He was pushing the brake with all the strength he had, but it just wouldn't work. On top of all, he was severely injured around his head, and he was sure he would pass out if he didn't find first aid, fast.

Kimberly had tried balancing herself, but the train was groaning and sending sparks all over that it was hard to find a room to get up. She had managed to pull Wendy back to her feet but with all this shaking back and forth was difficult to. Damn it, what a horrible time to have this happen. She knew she should just have exited when they had the chance!

Thomas was trying to help other passengers as they stood on the train's floor, at least to get them to hold into the support beams until they managed to find a way to stop this. There had to be an emergency stop somewhere, these forms of transportation always had it. He had been feeling something was wrong, but it had been too late to stop it. All he could do now was to help other people around.

Wendy saw Julie getting up and making her way towards her. She was amazed how her sister was still alive despite all the possibility of her emotions killing her faster than any sharpnel could.

**"JULIE, STAY DOWN!"** a sudden voice screamed, and Wendy saw it was Kevin. He was holding one of the support beams, and looked dead focused on beating this all, and Wendy knew she too had to be.

**"JULIE!"** Wendy screamed, coming across a desperate yell rather than a confident one. She too was scared, but she wouldn't let Death beat them.

The car's front axel then completely gave in, thanks to all the friction and speed making pressure against it. One of the wheels had been completely torn off, and bounced impossibly against the wall of the tunnel, and then came smashing against the car. Julie couldn't see it in time, and it hit her straight under her armpits, severing them against the rest of her body.

Wendy shrieked in panic upon the sight. It couldn't be! Julie was dead, dead! She watched with great sadness how her sister's arms had been torn off alongside her shoulders and head, looking more like a mush of skin, blood and bone than the piece of a body. Julie's remains toppled over and fell down hard, her fragile heart pumping blood one last time before it went still, and oozed blood and organs towards the car's cold floor. Wendy began to weep, a painful guilt suddenly hitting her, and making her legs turn into jelly. She had let her sister die, and it was all her fault.

The wheel didn't lose any of its friction upon killing Julie, only doing so after bumping against a door and dragging one half of it towards the tunnel. The other half also took the punch. If the car had been still, the door would just be weakened and would need repair, but thanks to the intense speed and friction of the car, the door had been dislodged and quickly picked up speed. Kimberly had dodged in the nick of time, as it headed straight towards Thomas.

Unable to dodge in time, Thomas had been hit by the door and pushed against the car's wall, with a bone crushing intensity that nobody could sustain. His skull had been completely crushed, his head giving in and sending blood and bits of his brain against the car. After the door fell, he too fell with it, smashing against the floor, with a dead stare in his lifeless eyes and crushed head.

Kimberly and Wendy shrieked, with Kimberly being in horror because of her partner's death, as well as because a gush of blood had blinded her. She could barely see as the car kept making its way. One of the football fans knocked Kimberly over towards the window, pinning her down to it.

**"KIMBERLY, HOLD ON!"** Kevin yelled, attempting to grab her. The window, however, had been the exact one that Wendy had bumped her head against a few moments ago, and as Kimberly stood against it, the glass began to crack further.

The train was grinding against the tunnel's wall, sending sparks all over the place and illuminating the carriage around them. Kimberly couldn't move or see, but she knew she was in danger. She tried her best to claw her way out of there as the glass began to give in to her body's pressure, shrieking in the process.

The glass then gave in, and Kimberly had been violently grated against the tunnel's wall, her body being obliterated in a matter of seconds, with her bones, tendons, organs and joints turning into fragments, while her blood coated inside and outside the train, splattering both Kevin and Wendy in the process. Both screamed and shrieked in terror, as one by one they all died.

This couldn't be happening, this couldn't POSSIBLY be happening, Wendy thought. First it had been Julie, then Thomas and now Kimberly. Would this nightmare stop?

Before Wendy or Kevin could do anything, however, the train had violently crashed against a girder. Since the whole carriage had been weakened from grinding against the tunnel walls, crashing into other carriages, a simple crash had been enough to make it stop and splinter a side of the wall apart. With the work of inertia, both Kevin and Wendy were sent flying towards the tracks, making Kevin knock his head and fall unconscious, and Wendy smash against the tracks.

The tracks were a mess. Mangled bodies were spread all over the place, and loud sparks were heard. Debris fell down from some of the walls, destruction all over the place could be seen.

Wendy struggled to get up, feeling a sharp jolt of pain on her leg, noticing it was broken upon impact. She could see Kevin, bloodied and scratched just like her, laying on the tracks. No no no… not him… not Kevin! She hoped he was still alive, as she wouldn't be able to survive any of this by herself. Christ, that leg of hers hurt like hell! She was practically pinned down on the tracks, and would need help.

All of a sudden, she heard the worst possible noise she could expect. It was probably her mind playing tricks with her, but she could have sworn a train was coming towards her. She saw the lights, and it was coming straight towards her, with no intention of stopping.

Wendy shrieked in horror, knowing this was the end. Kevin woke up to her yells but too late—the train had run him over and cut cleanly through his flesh and bone, and was about to hit Wendy on her face.

**'This can't be… wake the fuck up… wake the GOD DAMN FUCK UP!'** Wendy thought, just as the lights blinded her.

**"Well, ever since I left the university. It's close by Steel Plaza, and I'm heading towards Heinz Field to check up the game."** Kevin said. He noticed the other two people who were with her, and greeted them **"Kevin Fisher, I'm her boyfriend. And you are?"**

**"Kimberly Corman. This is Thomas Burke. We need to leave this train, now!"** The brunette woman said.

Wendy had been crying. She was scared, looking around… She was alive! And so was everyone else! That's it! This was a vision, another one just like her night at Red River!

**"Sis… what's wrong? Did you have another vision?"** Julie asked, upon noticing Wendy's expression.

Everyone else turned their heads to Wendy, with Kevin touching her arms to be sure she was okay.

**"Baby, what's wrong? Did you see it, again?"** Kevin asked, afraid for her.

"**The train… the train is going to…"** Wendy said, unable to finish her sentence, with tears running down her face.

Everyone looked into one another. The lights of the train began to fail, just like the premonition.

**"Oh shit… not again!"** Kevin replied, with Julie, Thomas and Kimberly all ready and knowing what they needed to do.

**"WE ALL GOTTA GET OUT, NOW!"** Thomas yelled, reaching for the emergency break. Shit! It wasn't working! **"IT'S NOT WORKING! HOLD ON!"**

**"THE TRAIN IS ABOUT TO CRASH PEOPLE, HOLD ON!"** Julie yelled, making sure everyone heard her message.

Kevin and Kimberly both held Wendy together. Kevin did for comfort, and Kimberly because she needed her roommate's attention.

**"WENDY! TELL ME ABOUT THE ORDER OF THE DEATHS."** Kimberly yelled, wanting her friend and roommate to snap out of this. Both Thomas and Julie went towards the doors to see if they could open it, jumping out ahead before it could crash.

**"What is the order baby? If you can tell us, maybe we can survive this!"** Kevin said, holding her and wanting to reassure her safety.

**"SOMEBODY STOP THE TRAIN!"** Thomas yelled, attempting to help Julie open the doors.

**"Julie… it's Julie!"** Wendy said, desperately. She could already hear the creaking and the car shaking around, exactly like in her vision.

**"Okay, but who else? Tell me the full order!"** Kimberly said, holding against her friend to not lose balance. Julie heard she was next and couldn't help but to feel scared. She'd need to avoid any and all things coming towards her.

**"It was Julie, Thomas, you, Kevin and me…"** Wendy said, now clearly knowing what was the exact order. She wanted to run after her sister and hold her tight, who knew she'd save her more easily that way.

Thomas and Kevin understood, with Kevin having gone to help Thomas and best to muscle their way out before any of them could die.

**"Alright… SHIT, LOOK OUT!"** Kimberly said, yelling for Wendy, pushing her friend and knocking her back. A dislodged wheel had been sent flying and bounced on the tunnel's wall, smashing through the train and almost killing Wendy.

Wendy fell to the floor, but was otherwise unhurt. But that brought her more questions than answers, why did the wheel try to kill her? That made no sense, Julie was next. Unless… that was a distraction!

**"BACKWARDS!"** Thomas yelled. **"The list is going backwards! That's it!"**

**"But how? We know the order of the deaths go like this!"** Julie yelled, seeing the wheel smash against a door, as the chaos around ensued. Bright sparks flaring as the car scratched against the tunnel's walls, and chaos ensued.

**"We went through this, our order was like this! In my vision I saw things happen in order, but with us, it went backwards!"** Kimberly yelled, without time to explain how it happened to them. If they survived this, she'd have a better time to explain all this better to the others.

**"Shit, then I'm next…"** Kevin said. He looked around for what could have killed him, seeing immediate danger all around him. Unbeknownst, one of the broken doors was sent flying, ready to strike him.

**"KEVIN!"** Julie yelled, pulling him down to avoid the door, that missed its target and crashed against the back side of the train.

They were all surprised by a sudden impact, their car having just T-boned through another carriage and sending hot specs of gore, bone, organs, from those who were in the way once the car went through it. Bright sparks showered the passengers in it, all the survivors ducked under it to not be hit.

Kimberly lost her balance due to another passenger and was thrown to the glass, cracking it severely. Another passenger had bumped its head against it before, and she could have been sucked out and grated against the tunnel.

**"KIMBERLY! Hold on!"** Kevin yelled, the closest to her. He reached for her, and managed to get ahold and push her out of the way just as the glass was about to give in.

With a sum of great strength, Kimberly managed to save herself with Kevin's help, inches away from being sucked out from the train and dying.

The survivors held one another together, waiting for the catastrophe to end so they could save one another and leave the subway.

**"The train is going to crash. Thomas and Julie, according to the order, are going to be on the tracks. We gotta save them!"** Wendy said, just as the carriage hit the girder, which sent each of them to separate directions, with the exception of Julie and Thomas, both falling on the tracks.

Kevin and Kimberly had been mostly unhurt, amazingly, but Wendy had a few scratches and had a rather severe wound on her leg. Thankfully, no broken leg or anything, she could stand up but couldn't use much of her strength.

**"We gotta find Julie and Thomas, before they die. Wendy, do you remember where we fell?"** Kevin asked, frantic and with a newfound energy.

**"Hmmm… We fell on a train track, right around here."** Wendy said, feeling some pain as she walked towards there.

**"Wendy, you gotta take it easy! We gotta call a paramedic to you."** Kimberly said, trying to help her roommate.

**"We can do that after we save Julie and Thomas. Christ, this hurts!"** Wendy said, refusing to give up until they found the rest.

**"Wendy, you gotta take it easy, come on."** Kimberly said, compassionately. It was strange to see her like this, as she was always so lively and upbeat.

"**Wendy, Kimberly, I found them!"** Kevin said, close by. Wendy and Kimberly went there, with Wendy struggling a bit to walk, and could see both were unconscious, and Kevin was checking up on them.

**"Okay, I'll get Julie up, you get Thomas."** Kimberly said, checking up on her partner first. He seemed okay, just slightly knocked out.

Wendy moved in to help, despite her friend and boyfriend's protests.

**"We don't have much time, the train is gonna appear soon."** Wendy said, trying to wake her sister up. **"Come on Julie, don't let this kill you, kiddo. You got this!"**

Julie woke up, groggy but showing she was alive. She seemed to not know where she was, but Wendy was relieved to see her alive still, giving her sister a warm embrace.

**"Julie, come on, a train is almost coming, let's go!"** Wendy said, struggling to get up.

**"Sis, you're hurt…"** Julie said, not having enough strength either.

**"Calm down ladies, let me help you both."** Kevin said, coming to help them both get up. He did so with relative ease. Wendy saw how Kevin was stronger after those three months away from him. It sounded oddly inappropriate, but how she missed him!

**"Can anybody please help me and Thomas?"** Kimberly asked, as the train drew near, the engine noise drawing closer and closer.

**"Come on, come on!"** Kevin said, muscling upwards Thomas from one side, while Kimberly did to the other. The train was visible and so were their lights, and now the three were in danger.

**"KEVIN, KIMBERLY, THOMAS!"** Wendy shrieked. She didn't want the three of them to die on a single go. It would have been so wrong to have them survive only to die now.

**"Come on, come on!"** Kimberly said, as they managed to save Thomas and themselves on the very last second, the train having missed them by mere inches.

Wendy embraced all of them, as they were now safe. At least… for the time being.

**"Can anyone help us?"** Julie asked, yelling to see if anyone could hear them, as the train moved through the tracks with a rather high pitched screeching, signaling that the driver was pulling the breaks.

As she had said so, two members of the subway security showed up, with their flashlights in their hands. The train conductor from Train 053 was slowly decreasing the speed with the handbrake to see what had just happened, and check if there were any survivors.

**"This is Riddick, we are requesting medical backup and shut down of the red line from North Side Station towards Allegheny Station. We have a major derailing accident, with survivors. Again, we request medical backup and shut down of the red line between North Side to Allegheny, a major derailing accident with survivors."** The taller man said on his walkie talkie, while the other checked for any wounds and help.

**"Are you okay? Is anyone hurt?"** The other man asked, who had a kind face and that looked very worried.

**"My friend Wendy in her leg and my fiancé Thomas, who's unconscious…"** Kimberly replied, looking worried. Kevin and Julie were both comforting Wendy.

As the security inspected Wendy's leg, she let tears run down her fragile face, closing her eyes as she cried. She saw Kevin and Julie too were crying, because they were safe. Heck, even Kimberly too was shedding a tear, as Riddick inspected Thomas, who was showing signs of life again, waking up slowly.

But Wendy was still scared… the nightmare from five months ago had begun yet again, with order of survivors and accidents, clues and everything else. But she had no more camera or took any pictures of them before boarding the train. On top of all, the pictures from before were gone, and now she was in the dark, not sure how any of them would die. And the whole ordeal with the order going backwards? That was just as fucked up. But there was something worse in all of this…

They were still in danger, and had to look for one another, until this was over.

* * *

Here is the train crash and the aftermath.

I really wanted the survivors to survive all, that's why they made it to the end. In my way of seeing, all of them survived once Wendy saved herself with a new life, but I won't write that story.

I thought about being a good twist of fate having Kimberly and Thomas survive, but having their new life only to die at the train, with both being back to the list once more.

Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
